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PRESKNTI-D nV 




SAINT JOHN^ OF THE CROSS 



Saint John 
of the cross 



By FATHER PASCHASIUS HERIZ, O. C. D. 

COLLEGE OF OUR LADY OF MOUNT CARMEL 



WASHINGTON, D. C. 
1919 



E)X47^0 



mtbil ©bstat: 

Fathee Alexis Coll, O.C.D. 

Fathee Joseph Maey of the Immacu- 
late Conception, O.C.D. 

Censor es Deputati, 



IFmprlmatur: 

James Caedinal Gibbons 

Archbishop of Baltimore, 



^uliimttXB 

I am very glad to recommend this new Life 
of the Mystical Doctor, St. John of the Cross. 

This work comes at a most opportmie time. 
If ever the world felt the need of the beautiful 
teachings of the Saviour of Men, it feels it now, 
when, after four years of war, human philoso- 
phy has proved how futile it is to satisfy the 
heart and mind of man. This ideal of conduct 
and right thinking is to be found in the life of 
St. John of the Cross, who interpreted in terms 
of daily experimental contact with the world, 
the all-satisfying lessons of Christ. 

Moreover, the fact that the Life of St. John 
of the Cross comes from the pen of Eev. Pas- 

chasius of the Carmelite Community at the 
Catholic University of America, is sufficient 
guarantee of its scholarship and authenticity. 

I beg God's blessing upon this work and trust 
that the wholesome and exalted personal influ- 
ence of the great Spanish Mystic may touch the 
hearts of all readers. 

J. Caed. Gibboits. 
September 19, 1919. 



WOEKS OF SAINT JOHN OF THE CEOSS 

Subida del Monte Carmelo — ^Ascent of Mount 
Carmel 

Noche oscura — *Dark Night 

Cantico espiritiial — *Spiritual Canticle 

Llama de amor viva — ^Living Flame of Love 

Cautelas — * Precautions 

Cuatro avisos a un religioso — Four Counsels to 
a Religious 

Avisos y sententias — ^Counsels and Maxims 

Dictamenes de espiritu — Spiritual Opinions 

Cartas espirituales — ^Spiritual Letters 

Poesias — * Poems 

Coloquios entre el espose Cristo y su esposa el 
almo — Colloquies between Christ and the 
Soul 

Tratado breve del conocimiento oscuro de Dios 

— Brief tract on the Knowledge of God in 
Darkness 

Transformacion del alma en Dios — Transfor- 
mation of the Soul in God 

Union del alma con Dios — Union of the Soul 
with God 



♦Marks those works which have been translated into 
English. 



PEEFACE 

As in every normal and perfect birth, the 
holy order of Carmel was born of a father and 
mother. The mother, origin and prmcipal in 
this spiritual generation, was the Most Blessed 
Virgin Mary. Centuries before her own birth, 
foreseen in a mysterious cloud, the holy prophet 
Elias worshiped her, and in her honor, by the 
inspiration of the Holy Ghost, he established 
the ancient and venerable Order of Carmel. 
Thus the Most Holy Virgin is the principal 
cause and original patroness of the order, its 
special protection, its faithful and most affec- 
tionate mother, manifesting God's design by 
her activity throughout the ages. 

The father of Carmel was the wonderful and 
holy Prophet Elias, ardent zealot of the glory 
of God, voice of his oracles and righthand of 
his power, born in flames and fed, according to 
St. Epiphanius, by angels with flames instead 
of milk, taken to heaven in a chariot of fire, and 
there blissfully held in mystery to return as 
defender of the Church and forerunner of 
Christ when he comes to judge the living and 
the dead. 

Such are the parents of the illustrious and 
most ancient family of Carmel. 

Similarly, in its renovation, when, through 
the reform of the Discalced Carmelites in Spain, 



6 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERINGS 

the order was bom anew, God provided for it a 
mother in St. Teresa of Jesns, who performed, 
the office and mirrored the virkies of the Blessed 
Virgin Maiy. As Mary, without offense to her 
virginal purity, became mother of God and of 
his children, so Teresa, preserving for her 
divine spouse the treasure of her virginity, 
became the spiritual mother of innumerable 
children of Carmel. 

The father of the reformed Carmel was a 
second Elias, like to the first in name, in spirit, 
armed with burning zeal, attired in penitential 
apparel, glowing with the flames of seraphic 
ardor and winning his way to the highest top of 
the mystical Mount Carmel. This was our 
blessed and most devoted father, St. John of the 
Cross, brightness and glory of the reformed 
family of Carmel, their master, captain, guide. 

Though he is the first-bom spiritual son of 
St. Teresa, he is at the same time our cherished 
and revered father, for from the very begin- 
ning he fostered us. In Holy Writ, Ner is called 
the father of his brother Cis, and Igal the son 
of his brother Nathan. So, in our holy order, 
the first-born son of St. Teresa and beloved 
brother of all the Discalced Carmelites, is nev- 
ertheless truly our father as well. 

Now in order that the second generation of 
Carmel should be like its first generation, God 
gave us St. Teresa in the likeness of the Most 



OF SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS 7 

Holy Virgin Mary, and St. John of the Cross, 
a perfect figure of St. Elias. Moreover there 
is a wonderful likeness between St. Teresa and 
St. John of the Cross in their supernatural 
gifts, their wisdom and their mastery in the 
doctrines of mystical theology and the ways of 
the Spirit. We leave the glories of St. Teresa 
to her own incomparable history of herself. In 
this brief narration of the life of St. John of 
the Cross we shall find him likewise a real apos- 
tle and prophet, powerful in words and works, 
and gifted with the double spirit of St. Elias. 



THE LIFE OF ST. JOHN OF THE CEOSS 
CHAPTER FIEST 

BlETHPLACE AND FaMILY OF OuR HoLY FaTHER 

Our holy father was a Spaniard, born at Hon- 
tiveros (Fons Tiberii), a noble village of Old 
Castile, in the diocese of Avila and not far from 
that city. His father was Gonzalo de Yepes, 
whose family gave its name to an ancient village 
in the vicinity of Toledo. His mother, Catalina 
Alvarez, was a native of Toledo. 

Though Gonzalo de Yepes belonged to a rich 
and noble family, we shall j&nd him in a very 
humble condition, working as a poor weaver. 
It came about in this wise: When his father 
died at Yepes he was taken by one of his uncles, 
a rich merchant, to Toledo, and employed in the 
business of the house. This took him on fre- 
quent visits to Medina del Campo, at that time 
a very flourishing city. Gonzalo was accus- 
tomed to break his journey at Hontiveros, lodg- 
ing at the house of a widow of Toledo who had 
in her charge a friendless orphan named Cata- 
lina Alvarez. Gonzalo admired her virtues, 
especially her innocence and fervent Catholic 
devotion, qualities which he esteemed more than 
all the riches of the world. 

Without consulting his family or even speak- 
ing a word on the subject with his kindred, 
Gonzalo made Catalina his wife. This, in the 



10 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERING'S 

opinion of Ms relatives, was a family disgrace. 
They disowned Mm; abandoned Mm entirely. 
Thenceforth he was an outcast, as poor as Ms 
penmless wife. Eemembering that St. Jo- 
seph, descendant of a royal sceptre, spouse of 
the Queen of Heaven and foster-father of the 
Son of God, wielded a plane, Gonzalo very sim- 
ply accommodated himself to his wife's estate, 
and learned from her the art of weaving silks 
and brocades. But his gains were so scanty 
that poverty came upon him like an armed man. 
In the penury and toil of their life at Honti- 
veros three children were born to Gonzalo de 
Yepes and Catalina Alvarez, Francis, Lms and 
our holy father. Saint John of the Cross. The 
charitable widow who had been a mother to 
the motherless Catalina Alvarez, died ; and the 
poverty-stricken family no longer received from 
her the help to which they had been accustomed. 
Then Gonzalo fell ill, and after ingering in pain 
for two years, died, leaving to his children the 
sole inheritance of an unsullied name. He had 
lived a good and pious life, in patience and hu- 
mility conforming himself to the will of God. 
His widow, in great distress of mind and body, 
visited his relatives and implored help in be- 
half of his orphaned children, but in vain. Ee- 
turning to Hontiveros she earned their bread 
with her own hands, John, the youngest, being 
an infant still in arms. In later vears her hero- 



OF SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS 11 

ism was rewarded by the love and veneration 
of our holy mother, Saint Teresa, who com- 
manded the Carmelite nuns of Medina del 
Campo to care for her till her death. They 
cherished her most tenderly and after her death 
buried her among the deceased sisters of the 
community. 

In spite of her poverty, Catalina Alvarez 
made provision for the education of her chil- 
dren from their earliest childhood. But Luis, 
the second born, died in the bloom of his inno- 
cence; and Francis, the eldest, made little 
progress in human learning. Accordingly his 
mother set him to the weaver's trade, in which 
he lived and died as did his father before him. 
For a time they lived in Arevalo, where Francis 
married Ana Izquierda; then in, 1551, they 
moved to Medina del Campo. 

Francis was twenty years of age when he 
came to Medina, but he was an old man in grace 
and goodness, given to mortification and 
prayer. In summer, like Isaac of old, he spent 
the nights in the fields praying to God. In 
winter he retired at nightfall into some church, 
or, if illness prevented, into a quiet comer of 
his own house, never dispensing himself, but 
praying without ceasing. This was his habit 
all his life, and for this God visited him in vis- 
ions and revelations, trances and di^nne locu- 
tions: but never in the wealth of this world. 



12 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERINGS 

He had eight children. Seven died in infancy; 
one became a Cistercian nun in the monastery 
of the Holy Ghost at Olmedo. 

Francis outlived his younger brother, Saint 
John of the Cross. He died at midnight on 
Friday, the feast of Saint Andrew, 1607; and 
then the whole city of Medina del Campo was 
moved, for he was regarded as a saint ; he had 
wrought miracles, and had the gift of prophecy. 
He had been the poorest man in the city, but the 
canons of the collegiate church and representa- 
tives of four religious orders went to his house 
to bring him to the Church at St. Ana. He 
was borne on the shoulders of the friars of 
Carmel and of the canons, the latter doing for 
the poor weaver what they would not have done 
for the greatest personage in Spain. 



OF SAINT JOHN OP THE CROSS 13 



CHAPTER SECOND 

BiKTH OF St. John of the Ceoss. His Child- 
hood. The Mothek of God Pkesekves His 
Life. 

In the year 1542, when Paul III was Pope and 
Charles V King of Spain, our holy father, Saint 
John of the Cross, was born in Hontiveros. 
Was he bom on the twenty-fourth of June, or 
the twenty-seventh of December? We do not 
know, but it must have been one or the other of 
these days, because he received the name John 
in baptism. It seems providential that we do 
not know which was his birthday or which his 
patron saint; for being, like the Baptist, the 
most perfect model of monks, and, like the 
Evangelist, the most sublime mystical writer, 
he resembles both in spirit as well as in name. 
As stated in the first volume of the extant bap- 
tismal record of the parish church of Honti- 
veros, a fire which reduced the church to ashes 
in July, 1546, consumed the book in which the 
baptism of our holy father was recorded. 

Catalina Alvarez reared her children in ut- 
most poverty, but with the greatest care and 
motherly affection. She taught them to invoke 
the most sweet name of Jesus, to keep always 
on their lips the holy name of Mary, to join 
their voices to the universal prayer of the 



14 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERING'S 

Church, to fear God, to venerate holy things, 
to shun evil and love virtue. To safeguard her 
children from all ideas less holy and pure than 
these, she worked by their side and made her- 
self the companion of their play. 

Blessed by Almighty God with such a moth- 
er, little John made wonderful progress. He 
seemed to have a natural inclination to piety* 
He was so meek, quiet and humble that his gen- 
tleness belied his age; while the flowers of his 
tender years gave promise of the seasoned 
fruits of his maturity. God formed in his 
youthful soul a most wonderful image of high 
perfection. 

We have the following story to remind us of 
the signal favors bestowed on him from earliest 
childhood by his heavenly mother, the Blessed 
Virgin. One day little John with another child 
of his own age was playing beside a deep, 
muddy pool, throwing reeds into the water and 
recovering them when they rose again to the 
surface. Bending too far over the brink to 
catch his reed, little John fell into the pool and 
at once sank out of sight. But he immediately 
returned to the surface, like one of the reeds, 
and remained there without being injured or 
in the least disturbed. He was quite clear in his 
conviction that he had been saved from death 
by the queen of heaven. And now she appeared 
to him, stretching out her most pure hand and 



OF SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS 15 

asking him to place his own in it that she might 
draw him from the pool. But John, seeing her 
so pure and heavenly, declined, for fear of sul- 
lying her. The queen repeated her request, and 
he made his excuses, in a serene and beautiful 
contest of courtesy, until a man in peasant garb 
came bearing a rod in his hand, stretched it to 
the child and drew him safely to the bank ; then 
went his way. Those who tell the tale favor the 
belief that this was none other than Saint 
Joseph. 

The apparition filled the child with joy. The 
fervent devotion of that day never deserted 
him, and whenever he passed that place in after 
years he made a devout pilgrimage to the spot 
to renew with grateful tears his consecration of 
himself to the Mother of God. Pharaoh's daugh- 
ter and Moses floating on the waters of the Nile 
are to us a feeble foreshadowing of this queen 
of heaven whose most pure hand was out- 
stretched to save the future leader of God's 
chosen people, the great family of Carmel, from 
out the Egypt of this world, through the 
penitential life of the monastery, to the holy 
mountain of interior peace. 



16 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERING'S 



CHAPTER THIRD. 

The Blessed Child John is Attacked by the 
Devil. He Conquoks the Enemy With 
Religious Fiemness. His Devotion in As- 
sisting AT Mass. He Enters the Hospital 
OF Medina del Campo. He is Saved Again 
BY THE Blessed Mother From Certain 
Death. 

The devil was not pleased with the happy be- 
giimiiigs of the life of John. He could see in 
them the loss he was destined to suffer through 
the servant of God. Always, from afar, the 
devil forecasts the Christian perfection of those 
who are called by God to eminent sanctity — 
how, we do not know. Perhaps he sees in the 
humors and qualities of their bodies a physical 
aptitude for virtuous living. Perhaps he is 
warned by the superior excellence and dignity 
of the guardian angels who are given to them. 
Perhaps he sees also some special signs of the 
extraordinary providence God bestows on them 
from the very moment of their creation. In 
whatever manner he may acquire this knowl- 
edge, whether by the natural sagacity of his 
powerful intellect, or by some special divine 
dispensation, one thing is certain, that from 
their earliest infancy the devil is accustomed 
to persecute the elect with terrific rage. 



OF SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS 17 

Seeing, therefore, in our saint, sncli a prompt 
disposition for every virtue, sucli extraordinary- 
favors, including the personal protection of the 
Mother of God; seeing also, perhaps, together 
with all this, some very superior guardian 
angel assigned to care for him, and knowing 
these things to be signs of the wonderful sanc- 
tity and power which would war against him as 
his capital enemy, the devil wished to stop all 
in the very beginning by taking the child's life. 
Failing in this, he was determined to discour- 
age and frighten him to such an extent that he 
would abandon his purpose to live virtuously. 
The venerable Francis de Yepes, brother of 
our saint, relates that when both were very 
small they were going in company with their 
good mother to Medina. Just before entering 
the city they had to pass a pool, probably the 
same from which our Lady had saved him, and 
there a large, fierce monster came out of it and 
attacked him, trying to swallow him up ; but he, 
without fear or distress, made the sign of the 
cross to defend himself, and immediately the 
horrible vision disappeared. Herein were sym- 
bolized all the troubles and persecutions by 
which the saint was afflicted during his life, and 
the triumphs our holy father achieved over the 
devil by the holy cross, making it a part of his 
name, and planting it firmly in the reformed 
Carmel. 



18 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUPFERINa'S 

Our little Jolin was growing more rapidly in 
virtue than in years. His pious mother, wishing 
to guide him to well-rounded perfection, tried 
to induce him to learn some trade ; but the boy, 
so quick and intelligent at school, was too dull 
to learn any of those common in the city. Fran- 
cis de Yepes says his holy brother was ap- 
prenticed in succession to the tailor's, carpen- 
ter's, engraver's and painter's trades. His 
ability to earn a living was tried in many ways, 
but he could not be taught. He did not seem to 
have the power of learning anything whatever. 
It was waste of time. 

God had higher work for him, and made his 
mother send him to school. She cherished very 
much the idea of placing him in a good college, 
but her extreme poverty came in the way, and 
she had to be contented with a school in Medina 
where poor and orphaned children were edu- 
cated. Here John remained some time attend- 
ing to his studies and other exercises, especially 
those of prayer and devotion, in which he was 
a model to the other children. At this time he 
used to go early in the morning to the monas- 
tery of St. Mary Magdalene, of the Augustinian 
nuns. There he served mass with such recol- 
lection and devotion as to attract the notice of 
those who were present, and inspire them to 
serve God more faithfully. 

Unalloyed virtue is so lovely in itself that 
the human heart cannot resist its beauty. Our 



OF SAINT JOHN OP THE CROSS 19 

blessed child had neither friends nor family nor 
riches, nor other natural gifts to attract affec- 
tion, but his wonderful virtues, even in tender- 
est childhood, were irresistibly winsome. Poor 
and forsaken by all, his modesty, gentleness and 
prudence caused him to be universally admired 
and loved. Among those whom he attracted 
most was a gentleman from Toledo, Alonso Al- 
varez, who, weary of the world, devoted himself 
to the service of the poor and the sick. He had 
taken on himself the charge of the hospital of 
Medina. Knowing well the wonderful virtues 
of little John and his hopeless struggle to earn 
bread for himself and his mother, Senor Alvarez 
went to her and offered to take the boy into his 
service in the hospital. 

John was twelve or thirteen years of age. 
His character had already in many respects 
attained majority. His new patron proposed 
that he should serve the poor, at the same time 
continuing his studies. Afterwards he intended 
to ordain him priest, and make him chaplain and 
superintendent of the large and flourishing in- 
stitution. The offer was gladly accepted by 
mother and son, and Juan de Yepes became the 
servant of the poor in the public hospital of 
Medina. 

Shortly afterwards, being at work in the 
court yard of the place, he fell into a well which 
had been left uncovered. The people who saw 
him fall made an outcry, thinking it was impos- 



20 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERINGS 

sible to save him, for the well was deep and 
there was much water in it. Eescuers rushed 
into the court yard and looked into the well. 
There they saw the boy resting on the surface 
of the water, calm and unhurt. He answered 
their cries quietly and cheerfully. Having 
drawn him up by a rope, they asked him how 
it had happened. He replied with great sim- 
plicity that a beautiful lady had received him 
in her arms as he was falling and sustained 
him till they came and let down the rope. 

The people wondered, and accounted the boy 
as one whom God was preserving for great 
things. Eecalling his already marvelous life, 
they looked at one another and repeated what 
was said of the great Baptist, precursor of 
Christ, *^What an one, think ye, shall this child 
be? For the hand of the Lord was with him." 
(St. Luke 1-66). 



OF SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS 21 



CHAPTER FOURTH 

His Chaeity foe the Pooe. His Studies. His 
Peayee axd Rigoeous Penance. Cheist 
OuE LoED is the Model of His Life and 
Actions. His Tendee Devotion to the 
Blessed Mothee. 

Now tliat the hospital afforded him many oc- 
casions to practice virtues, they shone in him 
with new splendor. Forgetful of sleep and 
weariness, he watched day and night at the 
bed-side of the poor. He did not feel his own 
fatigues but only the pains of his dear patients, 
giving them medicines and care with more than 
motherly affection. Here our Lord commenced 
to show him the rich mines of the virtue of 
charity and he began to enrich himself with its 
treasures. He learned to sympathize with the 
poor sufferer confined to a painful bed whose 
only relief and consolation are the loving kind- 
ness of his nurse. He caressed the weak, en- 
couraged the feeble, associated himself with the 
lonely, entertained and consoled the sorrowful 
and devoted himself with extreme diligence to^ 
the necessities of all. 

Having fulfilled these obligations, he spent 
the rest of his time in study and prayer, paying 
to each of them so much attention that, with the 
grace of God and his brilliant mind, in a short 



22 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERINGS 

time he made wonderful progress botli in prayer 
and learning. Abont his aptitude and love for 
studies, his brother, Francisco de Yepes, says, 
^^He was placed by his mother during the first 
school years, in the College of Christian Doc- 
trine. They taught him there to read and write, 
and in a very short time he learned both very 
well. ' ' Further on he says, ^ ^ Being there in the 
hospital, this gentleman, Don Alfonso Alvarez, 
asked him to make collections for the poor. 
This gentleman and all the other persons of 
the hospital loved him very much. They gave 
him leave to go and study Latin in the Jesuit 
college. His professor was Padre Bonifacio, 
who is still living. He was so clever in his 
studies that, with the aid of God, he progressed 
rapidly in a very short time. They related in 
the hospital that looking for him in the night, 
often they could not find him till at last they 
discovered him in the barn studying'' (Rela- 
ciones, Fol. 613). 

In the Jesuit college he studied grammar and 
rhetoric, displaying exceptional capacity. Later 
on, in philosophy, his sagacity penetrated the 
most delicate subtilties of metaphysics. Begin- 
ning already at this time, he consecrated his 
learning to the knowledge of God and himself 
as related to God, which is the supremely legiti- 
mate use of learning. That part of philosophy 
which explains the nature and properties of the 



OF SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS 23 

human soul he studied with greatest care, try- 
ing to understand well its functions and effects 
in our body, its faculties, the organs and senses 
through which it operates, and the manner of 
understanding in the present life, by means of 
the forms and likeness of things, called phan- 
tasms by the philosophers. He knew these 
studies would help him understand prayer and 
contemplation. His admirable writings, in which 
he makes use of rigid philosophical principles 
to explain with great preciseness the most inti- 
mate operations of the soul, both in ordinary 
prayer and in the highest supernatural com- 
munications with God, are a monument to his 
diligence as a student of philosophy. 

"With the same eagerness and devotion he 
practiced mental prayer. From his earliest age 
our Lord began to visit him with divine com- 
munications, giving him a foretaste of heavenly 
sweetness and light. He went to prayer as to 
a divine school, where the Sovereign Master en- 
lightened his mind and moved his will to love 
heavenly things and despise the perishable 
goods of earth, to know the beauty of virtue 
and the foulness of vice. It was in prayer that 
he learned to deny himself and mortify his 
senses ; to distrust every sensible affection, and 
to be ^ * sober, having on the breastplate of faith 
and charity, and, for a helmet, the hope of sal- 
vation '' (IThess. 5-8). 



24 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERINGS 

The effects of his wonderful spiritual devel- 
opment were manifest in his acts and manner 
of living. He chastised his body, though inno- 
cent, with vigils, fastings, disciplines and hair- 
shirts. Not satisfied with the heavy work of 
assisting the sick at the hospital, and many 
hours of prayer, when night came he continued 
his efforts to pray. He struggled against the 
weakness of his body until he had thoroughly 
expelled drowsiness, in order that prayer might 
be prolonged. When he was at last overcome 
by sleep, he mortified this solace with the hard- 
ness of his bed, which consisted of a heap of 
twigs. This penitential custom was observed in 
him as early as his seventh year. 

From the very moment of the use of his rea- 
son he offered himself to the Lord, presenting 
his body a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing unto 
God, his reasonable service, as St. Paul exhorts 
us (Eom. 12, 1). He practised from that tender 
age what he enjoined on others many years 
later in the Ascent of Mount Carmel, ' ^ First of 
all, have a constant care and desire of imitating 
Christ in everything, conforming yourself to 
his life, which you must study well to know how 
to follow it; behave in all things like Christ 
himself. '^ In this manner he printed in his 
soul the image of Christ our Lord, and in this 
divine and most brilliant mirror he studied how 
to order all his actions. At every step he ques- 



OF SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS 25 

tioned himself, **If Christ our Lord was doing 
what I am going to do, and was in my state in 
life, and represented my person and office, how 
would he behave ? How would he be and act on 
this occasion? How would he study? How 
would he attend holy mass? With what rever- 
ence and confidence would he devote himself to 
prayer? With what love and affection would 
he attend and nurse the sick?'' 

*^Be thou, Lord, my master," he used to 
say, * ^f or thou art my model and pattern. Teach 
me what to do and how to do it, that I may con- 
form all my actions with thy divine actions.'* 

Not with less confidence and affection did he 
consecrate himself to the Most Holy Virgin. 
Mindful of the favors he had received at her 
motherly hands, he tried to compensate her by 
unceasingly growing in devotion to her. He 
said the rosary and the little office daily on his 
knees, and remained long hours in her presence. 



26 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERING'S 



CHAPTER FIFTH 

The Lokd Coitsoles Him. His Ambitio^t to Be- 
come Peefect. He is Shown a Eevelation 
THAT He Will Help in the Reeoemation 
OF Caemel. He is Received in the Caemel 
OF Medina. 

Wliile tlie only desire of John was to please 
the Lord, His Majesty was filling his soul with 
consolations and treasures, and the more mer- 
cies he received from God, so much the more he 
showed his gratitude by preparing himself for 
further graces. 

When he was a young man of twenty years, 
he was as guileless as a child of two, and as 
prudent as a man of fifty. Never were seen in 
him the failings peculiar to twenty years; no 
levity, no restlessness or disorder whatever. 
He avoided frivolous company and worthless 
entertainments, and in this way he found much 
time for every virtuous exercise. What games 
ever distracted him from his study? What jokes 
from his earnestness? Profane spectacles did 
not attract his eyes, nor perishable goods his 
will. From the world he coveted nothing but its 
contempt. The school, the church, and the hos- 
pital were dearest to him. The prudence of his 
words, the modesty of his aspect, and the gen- 
tleness of his maimers made him amiable and 



OF SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS 27 

venerable. It is enough to say that the enlogy 
of Tobias was verified in him, ^^And when he 
was younger than any of the tribe of Nephtali, 
yet did he no childish thing in his work'' (Tob. 
1-4). The old monks gave to the great Macarius 
of Egypt the name Paidariogeron, which, trans- 
lated to our language, means old-youth, or, as 
the Latin has it, puer centum annorum. Such 
was John, and such were not only the signs, but 
the evident proofs of the natural and supernat- 
ural gifts with which he was endowed. 

Great and generous souls often show in their 
childhood a kind of vicious exuberance, sure 
signs of great capacity and natural talent for 
virtue and of the fruits which right education 
will develop in them. But our John did not 
manifest any youthful waywardness. He pro- 
duced well-seasoned fruits of high perfection 
from the very first, and this we may consider 
evidence of his destiny, not only to be a model 
of the highest perfection, but also to establish, 
or re-establish, it in organized society. 

In earnest of this, our Lord visited him with 
a marvelous vision. The devout young man 
was praying one day with his accustomed fer- 
vor and devotion, asking the Lord to guide him 
to the state of life in which he could serve him 
best, being entirely resigned to the divine will, 
saying with the psalmist, ^'I have put my trust 
in thee, Lord ; I said, ' Thou art my God, my 



2^ PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERING'S 

lots are in thy hands' '' (Psalm 30 :15, 16). The 
Lord heard his prayer, and consoled him, say- 
ing, ^'Thou art to serve me in an order, the 
ancient perfection of which thou shalt help to 
bring back again. ' ' 

He understood that God wished him to be- 
come a religions, and he was content; but he 
could not understand that he was to do so great 
a work as to recover the former greatness of 
any order. He shrank from the task, and, so 
far as he could, banished the thought of it from 
his mind ; for he looked upon it as a snare and 
occasion of delusion to his soul. He confessed 
this at a later time to the saintly nun, the Ven- 
erable Anne of Jesus. 

Hitherto he had no thought about religious 
life as possible for him, but from this time forth 
the desire to leave the world, into which he had 
never entered, grew very strong. The more he 
prayed, the more he longed to be a religious, 
but he was not inclined more towards one than 
another order ; he was equally indifferent to all 
and all were equally desired. In this uncer- 
tainty, he redoubled his prayers and penances, 
asking most humbly the divine Majesty to en- 
lighten him in the choice of the order where he 
might concentrate himself entirely to God. 

The Carmelites of the old observance had 
come to the city of Medina in the year 1560 and 
founded the convent of St. Anne. One day 



OF SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS 29 

John went to St. Anne^s, and at the sight of the 
Carmelite habit he was deeply moved. Never 
before had it made such an impression on him. 
By this he understood that he was called to 
Carmel. He was glad he had been poor all his 
life, and that he now could embrace poverty as 
his bride and give himself up to our Lord in his 
poverty. 

He went into the house and begged to be re- 
ceived into the order. The friars were pleased, 
because he was well known in the city. Accord- 
ingly, he received the habit on the Feast of 
St. Mathias, February 24, 1563, being then in 
the twenty-first year of his age. He was de- 
lighted with his lot, reckoning himself as for- 
tunate as St. Mathias, who was numbered with 
the twelve apostles ; and, therefore, he took that 
name, calling himself John of St. Mathias. He 
improved his surname later, when his own con- 
dition was changed for the better, by calling 
himself Father John of the Cross. 



30 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERING'S 



CHAPTEE SIXTH 

His Feevor in the Novitiate. His Zeal and 
Peudence. His Pkofession. He K^eps the 
Primitive Eule of Carmel. 

During his novitiate his regularity and obe- 
dience, his fervor and recollection, his austeri- 
ties and penances, were a fountain of edification 
to all in the house. 

Once his humility and prudence were severely 
tested in a crisis which novices can rarely, if 
ever, meet without some imperfection. He was 
with a father of the order who behaved some- 
what carelessly in the presence of seculars. 
John of Mathias was the only religious who saw 
the fault committed. The historians have said 
it was not a serious fault, but merely unbecom- 
ing in a Carmelite. The novice reminded the 
father of his fault; and he did so with so much 
humility and discretion that the father not only 
was not offended, but, on the contrary, he cor- 
rected himself, and accepted the correction with 
joy. 

In the following year, in 1564, John made his 
profession before Fra Angel de Salazar, the 
provincial of Castile. His great protector, 
Don Alonso Alvarez, was present at the cere- 
mony. The record of his profession, signed by 
the saint, was preserved in the house as a pre- 



OF SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS 31 

cious relic. A special book, very ricMy bound, 
was made to keep it, and also a very precious 
casket was made for it. This document and the 
small cell in which our saint lived, converted into 
a chapel after his death, were kept in great ven- 
eration in that monastery, though the monas- 
tery itself never adopted the reform of St. 
Teresa. But the house ever afterwards retained 
traces of the saintly novice, John of St. Mathias, 
in the regular observance and edifying punctu- 
ality of the community in all its duties. 

Seeing himself now a child of religion, whose 
mother and protector was the most holy mother 
of God, from whom he had received great fa- 
vors, he found it hard to satisfy his fervor of 
gratitude towards God and the mother of Car- 
mel; therefore, he began to consider anew the 
obligations of his state. 

Giving continual thanks to God for having 
brought him into the safe sanctuary of our Lady 
of Mount Carmel, his first care was to study 
carefully the rule of his order with the purpose 
of keeping it perfectly. He found that the 
order, though professing the rule given by St. 
Albert, patriarch of Jerusalem, was not con- 
formed to the rule as it was given to the ancient 
Carmelites, nor as it was approved by Innocent 
IV; but lived according to the mitigated rule 
approved by Eugenius IV, who had dispensed 
with its chief rigors and most heroic observ- 



32 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERING'S 

ances. Discovering all these things, he procured 
the rule in its primitive form, and, reading it 
carefully, he was inspired with an ardent desire 
of observing it in all its points. But, being a 
child of obedience, he would do nothing of his 
own will ; he had once given his will to his supe- 
riors, and would never resume it again. How- 
ever, he could represent his wishes to them, and 
did so. They listened to him, perhaps with 
some misgiving, but they did not resist, lest 
they should put out a flame which our Lord had 
kindled. They gave him permission to observe 
the primitive rule, provided that no duty of the 
community be neglected and the present disci- 
pline of the house be maintained in everything. 

He entered now on a life of penance, which, 
under existing conditions, was much more se- 
vere than the primitive rule required. He was 
present at all the exercises of the community in 
choir, chapter, and refectory, avoiding all ap- 
pearance of singularity, and outwardly differing 
in nothing from the other friars of the house. 
Yet he was fasting from the feast of the Holy 
Cross in September till Easter in the following 
year, and abstaining wholly from flesh meat 
throughout the year, according to the primitive 
rule. But, as no special provision was made for 
him in the house, and he attended daily in the 
refectory where meat was served according to 
the dispensation of Eugenius IV, it was hard 



OF SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS 33 

for him to disguise his own mortification and at 
the same time find food enough to support life. 
He had nothing in his cell, and he would not eat 
except at the appointed hours. He kept silence 
also, according to the primitive rule, and for 
that purpose used to retire to his cell the mo- 
ment he was free from the duties he had to dis- 
charge in public. He labored also with his 
hands, as the ancient hermits did, making in his 
cell crosses, disciplines, and other instruments 
of penance; but his chief work was prayer, 
which is the true work of a friar of Carmel, for 
it is said in the rule, ^'Let all remain in their 
cells, or near them, meditating night and day in 
the law of the Lord. ' ' He loved this holy exer- 
cise more than all the rest, and it struck down 
into his heart very deep roots, producing the 
most excellent fruits of high contemplation and 
heroic sanctity. Nor did he forget the holy pov- 
erty recommended by the rule; and, therefore, 
he did not admit in his cell, bed, or dress, any- 
thing which was not absolutely necessary for 
the use of human life and the decency of the 
religious state. He procured a narrow, incom- 
modious and poor cell, an old patched habit, 
and everything else in his personal use showed 
poverty and humility. 



34 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERINGS 



CHAPTER SEVENTH 

His Studies and Austekities in Salamanca. 
He Refuses the Peiestly Dignity, but is 
BY Holy Obedience Obliged to Accept It. 
He is Confiemed in Geace Dueing His 
FiEST Mass. 

The superiors of tlie order, discerning in 
John of St. Mathias great talents for theological 
studies, combined with sublime and rare virtues, 
determined to send him to their college in Sala- 
manca, that by the help of learning he might 
become a laborer in the vineyard of the Lord. 
The college of the order in Salamanca was then 
known as the College of St. Andrew the Apos- 
tle, but later it was called St. Teresa's College. 
The school of theology in the university was 
celebrated throughout Europe. The Dominicans 
had given it professors of great names — Fran- 
cis de Victoria, from the University of Paris; 
his famous pupil, Melchoir Cano, author of **De 
Locis Theologicis ; " the celebrated Dominic de 
Soto, who assisted at the Council of Trent, and 
others. To this great divinity school was sent 
John of St. Mathias in the year 1564. 

He was most diligent in attending the schools, 
but his studies never interfered with the severi- 
ties of his penitential life. The life he led in 



OF SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS 35 

Salamanca was not less admirable than the one 
he had begun in Medina. Not satisfied with the 
fastings, abstinences, silence, and perpetual 
prayer commanded by the primitive rule, he 
added to them most terrific penances. He dwelt 
in a very narrow and dark cell. All the light he 
had came through a little hole in the roof. A 
shallow box, more like a coffin than anything 
else, was his bed. In that coffin, without any 
covering other than his habit, and a block of 
wood for his pillow, Fra John took his rest at 
night. But there was a window in his cell look- 
ing into the church. Through this window he 
could see the tabernacle on the altar in which 
our Lord was dwelling. That sight comforted 
him more than anything the world could show 
him. 

His cell, so poor and edifying, has always 
been held in great veneration, and is' now one 
of the chapels or side altars in the church of 
the monastery. 

The primitive rule is austere enough even for 
souls athirst for penance, but for John of St. 
Mathias the burden was too light. He girt his 
loins with an iron chain studded with sharp 
points. Next to his body he wore a dress made 
of coarse grass, like a fisherman's net, the thick 
knots of which were as hard as stones ; this he 
covered with the habit of the order. He relieved 
the resultant unceasing distress by the use of 



36 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERING'S 

the most cruel disciplines, the effects of which 
could not always be concealed from his com- 
panions and superiors. 

It was a new and sharp penance to him 
when his secret mortifications became known 
to others. 

Prayer and austerities were the two wings of 
the spirit with which he made his flight to the 
top of the mystical Mount of Carmel. Prayer 
was his life, his food and nourishment. He ful- 
filled the great precept of the rule, to pray day 
and night, meditating in the law of the Lord. 

Though he was allowed to keep the primitive 
rule, he never failed to observe the minutest 
practice in force in the house where he was liv- 
ing. He never dispensed himself, nor claimed 
any exemption on the ground that he kept a 
more austere rule than his brethren. Modest, 
humble, and silent, he did the work he had to 
do. Everything was in order within him; he 
was regular in the house, punctual in the choir 
and in the schools ; no duty ever interfered with 
another. Nor was he carried away by the love 
of learning from the more important work of 
prayer. He made the lectures he heard minis- 
ter to his prayer; and in prayer he found the 
light which enabled him to profit by the lectures 
of his learned masters. 

Always cheerful and recollected, he was held 
in respect even by the turbulent youth of a 



OF SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS 37 

great university, and by his superiors lie was 
specially beloved. On Ms way to and from 
the university he observed angelic modesty, 
kept his eyes fixed on the ground and his heart 
in heaven, and edified his fellow-students with 
his exterior deportment. In public disputations 
he spoke modestly and to the point. When de- 
feated in the contest, he acknowledged his op- 
ponent's skill, but was never troubled at his 
own failure; neither was he elated when suc- 
cessful in his disputations. As soon as the 
scholastic exercises were over, he retired to the 
quiet of his cell, his mind disengaged from 
scholastic subtleties, and his imagination free 
from the divers phantasms of contests whose 
disorderly hubbub would have been an impedi- 
ment to his continual prayer. On account of his 
marvelous virtues he was specially loved in his 
own order and college, where the young looked 
up to him with respect, the aged bestowed on 
him their esteem and affection, and all took 
great care not to say or do anything unseemly 
in his presence. 

In 1567, having completed his theological 
studies and attained his twenty-fifth year, he 
was commanded by his superiors to prepare 
himself for the priesthood. He had shrunk 
from that dignity when in the hospital of Me- 
dina del Campo, but it was not in his power now 
to do what he did then. He was now under obe- 



38 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERINGS 

dience. So, bewailing Hs great unworthiness, 
of which he alone was conscious, he went into 
retreat, and was ordained priest in Salamanca 
in the same year. As soon as he was ordained, 
his superiors sent him back to Medina del Cam- 
po, there to sing his first mass, partly because 
he belonged to that convent, having taken the 
habit there, and partly to give pleasure to his 
poor mother, who had trained him in poverty 
and had given him to serve our Lord in poverty 
for the rest of his life. 

He came to Medina del Campo and began to 
prepare himself to offer up for the first time 
the sacrifice of the new law. He redoubled his 
austerities and prolonged his vigils, giving him- 
self wholly to prayer. Always he had lived a 
life of detachment and purity; now he felt that 
it was more necessary than ever for him to keep 
close to God, lest sin should come between and 
separate him from the only love of his soul. On 
the appointed day, he went up to the altar and 
made the great oblation. Then, holding in his 
hands God, his maker, he prayed to him with all 
his might for grace to persevere in purity of 
life, and never to stain the innocence of his 
baptismal robe. The cry of the saint went 
straight to the heart of God, and John heard an 
inward voice saying, *^Thy prayer is granted." 

The holy priest, overflowing with joy, full of 
humility and gratitude for such a favor, felt in 



OF SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS 39 

his soul a spiritual renewal and strong convic- 
tion that God had granted him a child's purity 
and had confirmed him in grace as he had con- 
firmed the holy apostles. 

These facts were attested by his confessors 
under oath, and were revealed by God to the 
Venerable Mothers Ana Maria of Jesus and 
Beatriz of St. Michael, who made sworn affida- 
vits of all the circumstances. This was not un- 
known to our holy mother St. Teresa, who used 
to say frequently that Father John of the Cross 
was one of the most pure and holy souls in the 
Church; that God had infused in him great 
treasures of purity and heavenly wisdom, and 
that, in her opinion, he was a saint during all 
his life. 



40 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERINaS 



CHAPTER EIGHTH 

St. John of the Cross Intends to Become a 
Carthusian. He Meets St. Teresa at 
Medina and Offers Himself to Her For 
THE Reformation of the Fathers. 
Great graces from God bring with them anx- 
iety to safeguard them. Recalling the promise 
made him while saying mass for the first time, 
St. John studied carefully the means in his 
power to persevere in the state of divine grace. 
He saw how necessary it was for him to with- 
draw farther and farther from the commerce of 
men, and, if possible, retire into the wilderness 
where God communicates himself to the soul. 
He had made the offering of his whole self, 
and had nothing more to offer now; but it was 
his duty still to watch with Abraham, and drive 
away the birds of the air, lest they should de- 
vour and defile the sacrifice. There seemed no 
other way before him except to leave the order 
of Carmel and become a Carthusian; for that 
was the only order a mendicant monk could 
enter. 

During this time, our mother St. Teresa had 
reformed the order among the nuns and was 
looking for some priest who had embraced the 
rule to help her in the most arduous work of 
reforming the fathers of Carmel also. The first 



OF SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS 41 

thought and desire for discalced Carmelite 
fathers came from the generous and brave 
heart of St. Teresa. She had recourse to 
prayer, and with unceasing tears like another 
Eachel, entreated God for children (Gen. 30-1). 
With this thought and desire, being in Medina 
del Campo, wh^re she had just finished the sec- 
ond foundation of nuns, St. Teresa communi- 
cated confidentially her thoughts and desires 
to Father Antonio de Heredia, prior of the 
calced Carmelites of that city. He promised to 
be the first to take off his shoes and become a 
barefooted friar of the primitive observance. 
St. Teresa was pleased with this resolution, but 
was not fully satisfied, fearing that he would not 
be strong enough to bear the austerities. 

After his first mass in Medina, Father John 
of St. Mathias went back to Salamanca to finish 
his course in the university. Later in the year 
he came back with Fra Pedro de Orozco to 
Medina, with the intention of going to the Car- 
thusians of Segovia, to hide himself from con- 
tact with men, that he might serve God without 
any distraction. He remained, however, in the 
monastery of St. Anne for some time, where his 
resolution of going to the Carthusians was 
known at least to Fra Pedro, who told St. Te- 
resa what he knew of the fervent spirit hidden 
in the frail body of Fra John of St. Mathias, 
and his earnest desire to become a Carthusian 



42 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERING'S 

for the sake of a more perfect life than it was 
possible to lead among the Carmelites of the 
mitigation. 

Fra John .of St. Mathias was twenty-five 
years old when he went at the urgent request 
of Fra Pedro de Orozco to see St. Teresa in her 
monastery of Medina. He had been about four 
years in the order, to the reform of which he 
was now called by the voice of St. Teresa, who 
was herself in her fifty-third year, and had 
been in the order more than thirty-three years. 
The two saints met for the first time in the 
Carmelite house of St. Joseph in Medina del 
Campo. The nun told the friar what she in- 
tended to do, and the friar told her how he had 
for some time wished to become a Carthusian 
because he believed himself called to a life of 
more retirement and prayer. As the conversa- 
tion continued, and the older saint represented 
to the younger one that he would do greater 
service to God if he remained where he was and 
helped her to restore the primitive rule of his 
order than if he left it to embrace another, Fra 
John, humble and self-denying, yielded to the 
persuasion of St. Teresa, and consented to do 
her bidding, provided the reform should be 
commenced without delay. 

He was the gift of God to St. Teresa, who 
was now content. She had found the one man 
on whom she could depend ; for though she had 



OF SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS 43 

already accepted on certain conditions tlie prior 
of Medina, Fra Antonio de Heredia, she was 
not wholly satisfied with him, and, therefore, 
she waited a while, partly because of her want 
of perfect confidence in Fra Antonio and partly 
because she had no house to give them, nor the 
means wherewith to buy one. But her poverty 
did not trouble her; on the contrary, she was 
gladdened by it. 

She used to say that she began the work when 
she had found a friar and a half, referring to 
the fact that Fra Antonio was a portly person- 
age of dignified presence and Fra John was 
small of stature and worn already by penances. 
There was nothing in him outwardly to com- 
mand the respect of ordinary men. But St. 
Teresa knew his worth. About the interpreta- 
tion of the words, ffiar and a half, there are 
two opinions. Some say St. Teresa referred to 
the outward appearance of the two friars call- 
ing Fra Antonio, on account of his dignified 
presence, one friar, and St. John of the Cross, 
because of his small stature and the wornout 
condition of his health, half a friar. Others 
say the Mystic Doctor referred to their moral 
and spiritual worth. Of this opinion are, be- 
sides the nuns of Medina who lived together 
with the saint, Fra Manuel of St. Teresa, Fra 
Jose of St. Teresa, and many other writers of 
the order. 



44 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERINGS 

The two friars were willing to renounce the 
mitigated observances of the order, and to un- 
dertake the austerities of the primitive rule, 
but there was no house to lodge them, nor a 
single penny to buy one for them. They were, 
like St. Teresa, mendicants, and had no pos- 
sessions; so they remained in the house of St. 
Anne of Medina, where they suffered many 
crosses. 

St. Teresa went from Medina, about the end 
of October, 1567, to Madrid, thence to the mon- 
astery of the venerable Maria of Jesus in Al- 
cala de Henares. In April, 1568, she made her 
foundation in Malagon, and was preparing to 
make another in Valladolid. In Malagon St. 
Teresa again met St. John of the Cross; and 
one day, while conversing together, both fell 
into a trance, and were seen by Mother Isabel 
of the Incarnation. Fra John was in the parlor 
of the monastery, and St. Teresa on the other 
side of the grating. 

In June, St. Teresa returned to Avila to make 
final arrangements for the foundation of Valla- 
dolid ; and while so occupied, Don Eaf ael Mejia 
Valasquez, to whom she had never spoken be- 
fore, called upon her and offered a small cot- 
tage he had in Duruelo for the monastery of 
the discalced fathers. She accepted the offer 
with great gratitude, and went to see the place. 
On the road she and her companions missed 



OF SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS 45 

the wa;^, and so reached the place late at night. 
The house was so filthy that the saint and her 
companions did not venture to pass the night 
in it. It had a porch, a small kitchen, and a 
room with a low garret. St. Teresa considered 
that place the Bethlehem of the reformed Car- 
mel. Its utter wretchedness had won her. 

The night was spent in the neighboring 
church. The next day St. Teresa reached Me- 
dina del Campo, and told the prior of the Car- 
melites that she had found the place. Fra 
Antonio was not alarmed by the account they 
gave him about the house. He said he would 
stay gladly even in a pigpen, provided he could 
keep the primitive rule there. Fra John of 
St. Mathias had no objection. The poverty of 
the house was a spell that attracted him. 

But all the difficulties were not so easily over- 
come. The general of the ord6r had given per- 
mission to found new monasteries on condition 
that the actual provincial and former provincial 
gave their consent. One of them, Fra Angel of 
Salazar, had already been involved in trouble 
with St. Teresa, and probably had not forgot- 
ten it. 



46 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERING'S 



CHAPTEE NINTH 

St. John of the Cross Takes the Habit of the 
Eefoemation iiT Mediita del Campo. He 
Accompanies St. Teeesa to Valladolid. 
He Goes From Theee to Dueuelo and 
Begins the Eefoem. 

St. John of the Cross, before leaving with St. 
Teresa for the foundation of Yalladolid, took 
the habit of the reformation in the speak-room 
of Medina del Campo in the presence of the 
foundress. This is stated by several witnesses 
and specially by Dr. Alvaro de Marmol, Isabel 
de Santiago, Oonstanza Eodriguez, Juan Lopez 
Osorio and Catalina de Jesus. But until he 
went to Duruelo, he did not continue wearing 
the habit of the reformation for, as we shall 
see later, after having said the first mass in 
Duruelo, he put the new habit on the altar, 
blessed it, and then clothed himself with it. 

St, Teresa went to Valladolid to make the 
foundation there, and took with her Fra Juan 
that hemight see the way in which the rule was 
kept. In Valladolid the nuns had to live for 
some time in a monastery unenclosed, on ac- 
count of the workmen in the house. This 
enabled him to see better their ways. 

While he was thus, in a manner, novice a 
second time, St. Teresa was engaged in getting 



OF SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS 47 

the necessary permission of the provincial, Fra 
Alonso Gonzalez, who came at this time to Val- 
ladolid. He was not willing to accept the new 
foundation under his jurisdiction; but the 
bishop of Avila and his sister, Dona Maria de 
Mendoza, friends of St. Teresa, came also to 
Valladolid, and- helped her to the utmost of 
their power. The two provincials gave their 
consent at last, moved not a little by some diffi- 
culties of their own, for the removal of which 
they wanted the help of the bishop's sister. 

This opportunity of learning the holy customs 
and manner of life in the reformation of St. 
Teresa, and the privilege of the most intimate 
communication with her, were acknowledged 
and repaid by Fra Juan, not only with the rare 
example of his holy life and heavenly conversa- 
tion, but also by giving both to St. Teresa and 
her daughters the spiritual nourishment of con- 
ferences, hearing confessions and directing 
them to the highest perfection. With this he 
began his intimate and life-long connection with 
St. Teresa as her spiritual son and master of 
herself and her daughters. He was the first 
confessor and spiritual director of the discalced 
Carmelites, fathers and sisters. 

Every hindrance was now removed. The 
foundation of the first monastery of the bare- 
footed Carmelites was not only possible but 
legal according to the constitution of the order, 



48 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERINGS 

and it was made with the full sanction of the 
general, to the great joy of those who were 
about to begin the reform of Carmel. 

St. Teresa and her nuns, with their own 
hands, made the habit of the first friar of the 
reform, Fra Juan of St. Mathias. With that 
habit, but not wearing it, and with the means 
of saying mass, he left Valladolid for Duruelo. 
One of the workmen employed in repairing the 
monastery of the nuns was sent with him, be- 
cause his service would be greatly needed in 
the ruined house which was to be the cradle of 
the reform of the friars. 

When he was saying farewell to the nuns he 
said, before all the sisters, ^^ Mother, as you are 
the cause of my undertaking this work for the 
service of God, ask him to give me his grace, 
that I may commence it for his glory, and on it 
and on myself bestow your holy blessing.'' 

St. Teresa with her nuns wept tears of joy 
at the humility of the father and promised him 
their prayers. Then, falling on their knees, 
they begged him who had been their spiritual 
father and confessor, as the priest of the Lord, 
to bless them. 

Fra Juan took leave of the saint and went to 
Duruelo to lay the foundations of the reform 
of the friars of Carmel. He had never seen the 
house of Duruelo, which was to be the first 
monastery of the order, until he went thither to 



Oli^ SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS 49 

take possession of it in the autumn of 1568. Its 
poverty-stricken condition had an irresistible 
charm for him, and he entered it with joy in his 
heart, because he had found his true rest on 
earth. He began at once to put the house in 
order. First of all he made the church in a 
little porch of the house, which represented the 
stable of Bethlehem where our Lord was bom. 
The only ornaments of the church were a num- 
ber of crosses made of branches of trees, and 
as many skulls as crosses, which caused both 
horror and edification. The choir was in the 
garret over the inner chamber. It had a little 
roof sloping on both sides, so low at the ends 
that one had to kneel to go into the apartment. 
The window was a little hole in the roof which 
was opened and closed by a tile, so badly fitted 
that wind, rain and snow had free passage in. 
At both ends of the choir he built two little 
cells, so narrow and low that the dweller had to 
stretch out or kneel down in them, because they 
were at the ends of the garret. He spread a 
little straw in them to make them more like the 
stable of Bethlehem. He supplied stones for 
pillows. A cross and a skull were the precious 
furniture of these cells. Each one had its little 
window looking to the tabernacle, the most 
pleasing vista possible for the dwellers therein. 

The domestic part of the monastery had less 
grandeur than the church and choir. The small 



50 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERINGS 

room under the choir was divided into two or 
three little cells, adorned with the same furni- 
ture as those already described. The little 
kitchen of the old house was divided into two, 
one being used for kitchen and the other for 
refectory. The furniture and kitchen-utensils 
of these departments were gay indeed. In the 
refectory he placed a piece of a rough board 
for a table. A broken pitcher and pumpkin- 
shells served as dishes. The kitchen boasted a 
couple of old pots which were used not very 
often. 

Such was the whole monastery as our holy 
father prepared it for the cradle of our holy 
order. When the work was done, it was late in 
the evening. Fra Juan sent the workman who 
was with him to the village to beg for food, for 
there was none in the monastery. The people 
gave him some broken bread and with this they 
broke the fast of that day. 

The greater part of the night, notwithstand- 
ing the labor of the day before, was spent by 
Fra Juan in prayer. In the morning, having 
prepared the altar, he said holy mass. The 
habit he had received from St. Teresa he laid 
on the altar and blessed it, and at the end of 
mass he put it on. He had no shoes nor stock- 
ings, nothing to protect his feet from the 
ground. He was as poor as man could well be ; 
and in as poor a monastery as any in the world. 



OF SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS 51 

Outwardly and inwardly detached, lie fell on 
his knees, and, with fervent thanksgiving com- 
mended himself and his work to our Lord 
through the intercession of his most holy 
mother, who had been his singular protectress 
from his childhood up to that day. 



52 , PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERING'S 



CHAPTER TENTH 

Beginning of the Refokm of the Feiaes. 
Change of Names. Life in Dueuelo. Visit 
OF St. Teresa. Monasteey of Pasteana. 
Feiaes Remove Feom Dueuelo to Manzeea. 

The house of Duruelo was to be the cradle of 
the reformed Carmel. While Fra Juan was 
making it ready, Fra Antonio Heredia paid a 
visit to St. Teresa in Valladolid. He gave to 
the saint an account of his preparations for the 
new life in Carmel, at which St. Teresa was 
greatly amused. In his zeal for punctuality, he 
had collected five hour-glasses — nothing else 
(Foundations, XVI-2). Fra Antonio awaited 
the arrival of the provincial at the house in 
Medina, where he was prior. At last the pro- 
vincial came and in his presence Fra Antonio 
resigned his office and renounced the mitiga- 
tions of the rule. 

Taking with him one of the brothers, Fra 
Jose, not yet ordained priest, Fra Antonio 
reached Duruelo on the eve of the first Sunday 
in Advent, November 27, 1568. Fra Juan gladly 
welcomed them. 'The little community of three 
friars passed the night in fervent prayer. 
When the morning came, Fra Antonio and Fra 
John said Mass, and the three friars on their 
knees before the most holy sacrament, weep- 



OF SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS B3 

ing tears of joy, renewed the solemn vows of 
their profession, and renounced the mitigations 
of the rule sanctioned by Eugenius IV. They 
promised our Lord and his most blessed mother, 
the most holy Mary of Mount Carmel, to place 
themselves under the primitive rule of St. Al- 
bert, as corrected by Innocent IV, and to live 
it in its integrity until death. Then, following 
the custom introduced by our holy mother St. 
Teresa among the sisters, they changed their 
family names, to avoid every reminiscence of 
worldly honors. The choir-brother, Fra Joseph, 
became Joseph of Christ; Antonio Heredia, An- 
tonio of Jesus ; and Juan of St. Mathias, John 
of the Cross ; the three of them made one Christ 
Jesus Crucified. 

Soon afterwards, the provincial came to Du- 
ruelo, and made Fra Antonio prior, Fra John 
of the Cross superior and master of novices, 
and Fra Joseph of Christ porter and sacristan. 
Later on Fra Joseph of Christ fell away and 
returned to the old observance, but the two 
friars whom St. Teresa had chosen remained in 
Duruelo. In this way the reform was legally 
and peacefully begun, with the consent of the 
general of the order, and the co-operation of 
the provincial, Fra Alonso. In the records of 
the monastery the foundation is described as 
follows : 

**In the year one thousand five hundred and 
sixty-eight, the twenty-eighth day of November, 



54 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERING'S 

this monastery of our Lady of Mount Carmel 
was founded in this place ; in which monastery 
the primitive rule in its vigor, as delivered unto 
us by our first fathers, began to be observed, by 
the help of the Holy Ghost ; the Father Doctor 
Fra Alonso Gonzalez being provincial of the 
province; the brothers Fra Antonio of Jesus, 
Fra John of the Cross and Fra Joseph of 
Christ, by the grace of God, began to live 
according to the rule in its strictness. The 
house and place were given to us by the owner, 
the noble Lord Don Eafael Mejia Velasquez; 
the most illustrious Lord Don Alonso de Men- 
doza, bishop of Avila, consenting to the foun- 
dation of the house.'' 

'This was the beginning of the reform of the 
friars, and it must never be forgotten that 
neither St. Teresa nor the friars of the reform 
ever complained of any laxity in the houses 
they left. The reform was not a reform of 
manners, but simply a restoration of the olden 
rule which in times past the sovereign pontiff 
had mitigated, but had never suppressed. The 
general of the order and the provincials in 
Spain never imagined at the time that the re- 
form was to be regarded as a personal censure 
upon them and their brethren. It was lawful 
and perfect to live either under the primitive 
rule of St. Albert or under the rule mitigated 
by Eugenius IV. The intention of St. Teresa 



OF SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS 55 

was not to condemn the latter, but to restore the 
former under the same father-general of the 
order, and the same provincials throughout 
Spain. 

The two fathers began to order their lives 
according to the primitive rule and to make for 
themselves certain constitutions based on the 
observances which St. John of the Cross had 
seen practiced by St. Teresa and her daughters 
in Valladolid, which are substantially the same 
as now embodied in the constitutions of the 
discalced Carmelite fathers of today. 

The cell of St. John of the Cross in the new 
monastery was one of the corners at the end 
of the garret, having a little straw for his bed 
and a stone for his pillow. He assisted at 
matins at midnight, and after that he remained 
in prayer till morning. He was so absorbed 
that he did not feel the snow which filtered 
through the crevices of the tiles and covered 
him, as St. Teresa tells us in her book of the 
Foundations. 

Though St. John of the Cross loved his cell, 
he was sent by his prior to preach in the coun- 
try round. He had to go far away from the 
monastery, travelling always on foot. They 
wore no sandals in those days. His feet were 
bare, even in the depth of winter, and he walked 
over ground hardened by frost and covered 
with snow. As soon as his work was over, he 



56 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERING'S 

came back to his cell, without a morsel of food ; 
and his cell was hardly more comfortable than 
the rough roads with stones and briers hidden 
in the snow, over which he had been travelling. 

As no one in the little community could be 
spared as his companion in these journeys of 
charity, he called from Medina del Campo his 
brother Francis to be his companion on the 
roads. One day, after preaching in a parish 
church, St. John came down from the pulpit 
and left the church with his brother. The 
priest continued the mass, and when it was 
over, having learned that the preacher had de- 
parted for his convent, sent his servant to over- 
take him, and beg him to return and dine with 
him. The servant overtook St. John and de- 
livered his message ; but the preacher made his 
excuses and hastened to his monastery. His 
brother remonstrated with him, and said that 
it was an uncourteous treatment of the parish 
priest. St. John answered that he was doing 
the work of God, and did not wish to receive 
payment from man. When they came to a well 
by the wayside, St. John sat down and divided 
with his brother a little bread he had takea 
from the convent, and both dined on bread and 
water that day. 

St. Teresa visited Duruelo in the year 1569. 
She found Fra Antonio sweeping at the door 
of the church. He was a grave and portly friar, 



OF SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS 57 

nearly sixty years of age, and had been forty 
years in the order. 

^^What has become of yonr dignity T' St. 
Teresa asked him. 

He answered, paraphrasing the words of the 
prophet, ^'Cursed be the day wherein I had 
any'' (Jer. XX-14). 

St. Teresa was amazed by the poverty of the 
place and edified by the devotion of the friars 
and their faithful observance of the rule. But 
she was alarmed at their penances and aus- 
terities, which she regarded as excessive. She 
feared they might endanger the lives of those to 
whom she had entrusted the reform. She there- 
fore spoke seriously on the subject to the friars, 
^^who,'' she says, ^^ having gifts I had not, made 
light of my advice.'' She gave thanks to the 
Lord, and in her humility confessed their ways 
to be safe (Foundations, XIV-2). 

Such mortification and humility could not 
remain hidden. The people who dwelt round 
about came to the church and filled the two con- 
fessionals which were there; not poor people 
only, but the great noblemen of the neighbor- 
hood came to Duruelo, and entrusted their con- 
sciences to the friars, whose austere lives were 
a wonder to all. Among those who frequented 
the monastery was Don Luis de Toledo, a rela- 
tive of the great Duke of Alva. 



58 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERING'S 

Two young men of exceptional talents ap- 
plied for the habit of the reformed Carmel, and 
were received with great joy by the holy found- 
ers, Fra Antonio and St. John of the Cross. 
Our holy father, St. John, to whom God had 
communicated the fullness of the spirit of Car- 
mel, began now to instruct his novices, not only 
by his heavenly doctrine, but specially by the 
example of his holy life. God had gifted him 
with such mastery, discretion and capacity that 
he filled his order with contemplative angels; 
and what he did for his own order by word of 
mouth and example, he has done for all since 
by his writings. 

His uninterrupted sense of the presence of 
God, manifested in his exterior composure, his 
humble silence, his placid cheerfulness, his 
courteous and affable charity, earned for him 
the esteem of all. His novices especially had 
such a veneration and respect for him, that the 
least indications of his preferences were to 
them most sacred and weighty commands. 



OF SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS 59 



CHAPTER ELEVENTH / 

The Monasteky at Pastrana. Teaxslation of 
THE Community From Duruelo to Man- 
ZERA. Novitiate oe Manzera. St. John of 
THE Cross Sqesjio Pastrana. College of 
Alcala de Henares. 

While Don Luis de Toledo was trying to in- 
duce the little community of Duruelo to leave 
the place and establish themselves in Manzera, 
where he had just built a new church, St. Teresa 
found means to establish another monastery of 
friars in Pastrana. She had secured, indeed, 
permission from the general of the order to 
found two monasteries of friars. Era Antonio 
went to Pastrana, in July, 1569, leaving the 
house of Duruelo under the care of St. John of 
the Cross. St. Teresa was at this time found- 
ing the sixth convent of her nuns in Pastrana; 
she sent to Medina for Isabel of St. Jerome, 
and she requested the prior of the Carmelites 
there to send one of the fathers with her. 'The 
prior sent Era Baltasar of Jesus, who had a 
great desire to quit the mitigation for the re- 
form, but the prior knew nothing of it. On his 
arrival. Era Baltasar immediately told St. Te- 
resa his intention. She was glad because he was 
a zealous friar and a great preacher, famous in 
the order. 



60 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERING'S 

Two hermits of Tardon, in the Sierra Mo- 
rena, had come to Pastrana to take the hahit of 
onr Lady of Mount Carmel ; they had been won 
to the order by St. Teresa in Madrid. The 
postulants were eager to enter, and they begged 
St. Teresa to give them the habit. As Fra 
Pedro Muriel, the delegate of the provincial, 
was then in Pastrana, the matter was arranged. 
St. Teresa with her own hands gave the habit 
to the hermits, Mariano and Juan de la Miseria. 
Fra Baltasar preached a most moving sermon, 
and being already a Carmelite, made the change 
for himself. A few days later Fra Antonio ar- 
rived, and having now three friars under his 
jurisdiction, took formal possession of the mon- 
astery. He remained there about four months, 
training them in the discipline of Carmel. On 
his departure for Duruelo, he left Fra Baltasar 
of Jesus as his vicar, to govern the house. 

The following year, 1570, the translation of 
the monastery of Duruelo to Manzera took 
place. Fra Antonio begged the provincial to 
honor the removal with his presence. Accord- 
ingly Fra Alonso not only came himself, but 
brought with him other friars, and all went in 
procession from Duruelo to Manzera. The 
provincial sang the mass, and Fra Antonio 
preached. St. John of the Cross took with him 
the two novices. One of them was Fra Pedro 
of the Angels, who rose to great sanctity, and 



OF SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS 61 

died in Valladolid in 1613 ; the other, Fra Juan 
Bautista, was made perfect in a short time and 
died in the monastery of La Roda in 1577. 

Soon after our holy father St. John of the 
Cross and his companions came to Manzera, the 
fame of their holy life was spread through all 
the country, and at this news, many young men 
repaired to the new monastery and begged to 
be admitted into the novitiate. All were excel- 
lent vocations, and some of them highly learned 
men. 

Among the latter was a doctor from the Uni- 
versity of Salamanca, a great lawyer, and an 
able man; he begged to be received among the 
poor friars of Manzera, where his learning 
would not be held in great reverence, and where 
he found a master of novices who possessed a 
learning far more profitable than he had taught 
in the universities. One day, for the sake of 
saying something, or because the old Adam got 
the upper hand, the doctor from Salamanca ob- 
served that the library of the house was poorly 
furnished with certain books. The master of 
novices heard the remark, and ordered the cell 
of the doctor to be cleared of all books what- 
ever, and then gave him a child's first book, or 
primer, and with the book he gave him a little 
rod, such as school-masters use in pointing out 
letters to young children. The learned doctor 
was to learn the letters like a child, as if he had 



62 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERING'S 

never been to school before. He did as lie was 
told, and gave an account of bis progress to the 
master of novices from day to day with tears of 
compunction and great humility of heart. He 
persevered in the order, was greatly respected, 
and eventually became provincial. 

While Manzera prospered under the safe 
guidance of St. John of the Cross, Pastrana 
was in danger ; and therefore, Fra Antonio, the 
prior of Manzera and superior also of Pastrana, 
determined to send thither his sub-prior and 
master of novices. Accordingly, in October, 
1570, St. John of the Cross went to Pastrana to 
instruct the novices there; and Fra Pedro Fer- 
nandez, the apostolic visitor, made him vicar of 
the house in the absence of its prior. He took 
with him from Manzera Fra Peter of the An- 
gels, whose prudent conduct and exemplary life 
would be of great service in the new house. The 
two friars travelled on foot, begging their 
bread. At night they rested in the poorest 
places, and when they found no house poor 
enough for their lodging, they slept on straw in 
barns and outhouses, carefully shunning all 
ease and comfort, keeping in mind his life of 
pain and travail who had no place to rest his 
head. 

In the novitiate were fourteen men, four of 
whom were already professed. All were fer- 
vent, and given to great mortifications ; but they 



OF SAINT JOHN OP THE CROSS 63 

needed instruction, and some of them needed 
restraining, because they were inclined to ex- 
cesses of penance unfitted for their state of life. 
Some of them had been friars of the mitigation, 
and others had left the world for the new Car- 
mel ; but there was no one in the house who had 
been trained under the first novice-master of 
the reform. 

St. John of the Cross explained to them the 
intent and meaning of their vocation, the nature 
and requirements of the rule, the spirit hidden 
under its letter, and the great importance of 
the observances which were the several path- 
ways, guards, and fences of the order and of 
their vocation. So persuasive was his language, 
and so winning his ways, that no one heard him 
unmoved. The little Carmel of Pastrana flour- 
ished, and was made a most fruitful vineyard 
of the Lord, by his holy life and heavenly 
doctrine. 

In July of this year, 1570, and before St. 
John went to Pastrana, when St. Teresa was 
present at the profession of the two friars 
whom she had won in Madrid, it was resolved 
that a college should be founded for the order 
at Alcala de Henares, for the instruction of the 
friars. St. Teresa had leave to found only two 
convents, and these were already in existence. 
Application was therefore made to the apostolic 
visitor, who readily gave his consent, and with 



64 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERING'S 

the help of the duke of Pastrana, the prince 
Euy Gomez, the college was built. It was in- 
augurated on the feast of All Saints by Fra 
Baltasar of Jesus, prior of Pastrana, who be- 
gan thenceforth to preach in the city. His 
preaching was so powerful and attractive that 
the whole university crowded to hear him. 

In the year 1571 the college of our Lady of 
Carmel passed into the hands of the novice- 
master, who had formed and fashioned Duruelo, 
Manzera and Pastrana. Although it was the 
house of studies it was subjected to the same 
training which had been estabhshed in the other 
houses. The example and teaching of St. John 
were not in vain. The students of the college, 
passing to and fro to the lectures of the uni- 
versity, calm, recollected, with downcast eyes, 
attracted the observation of the city, and won 
its respect. Eegular discipline, fasting, watch- 
ing and other mortifications humbled the pride 
of life, and made the understanding captive 
under the dominion of faith. St. John of the 
Cross, with unflagging watchfulness, encour- 
aged them in their studies, setting devotion and 
piety on a higher level than learning. From his 
example and precept originated the saving still 
honored in the colleges of the order, ^^Eeligious 
and studious, but religious above all.'' 

While the college in Alcala was growing, the 
novitiate at Pastrana fell into disorder again. 
Fra Angel of Gabriel, newly-made priest, full 



OF SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS 65 

of zeal, fervent and mortified, but not gifted 
with the discretion required in a master of 
novices, begun to make changes and disturb the 
order of the house. Fra Antonio of Jesus and 
other grave fathers consulted together and 
agreed that there was but one help for it, to 
send the first novice-master of Carmel there at 
once. They felt that his work in Alcala was 
done and well done. The college was sound and 
healthy. But even if he had not finished his 
work there, they must send him to Pastrana, 
because that was now the novitiate of the order. 
It was therefore of the highest importance to 
bring it again to its former state. St. John of 
the Cross left Alcala for Pastrana to undo the 
work of the entire year, and to bring back into 
the true pathways of the new Carmel the whole 
monastery; for the professed fathers also had 
been led astray. The saint arrived in Pastrana 
at the beginning of the year 1572, and began his 
work gently and tenderly. In the first place he 
put an end to the public humiliations and the 
singular penances which were practiced in the 
house. He restored the monastery to the spirit 
of the rule and observance of those constitu- 
tions which he and Fra Antonio had agreed 
upon in the beginning when they were together 
in Duruelo. He showed the novices that their 
spirit was peculiar, and that they were not to 
adopt the practices even of the greatest saints, 
if they were not suited to their vocation. Their 



66 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUPFERlNa'S 

chief work was prayer and meditation, * * dwell- 
ing alone in tlie forest, in the midst of Carmel, ' \ 
away from the noise of men, bent on keeping 
the rule. Each order in Holy Church has its 
peculiar work and spirit; and confusion alone, 
and ruin of vocations, result from the disor- 
derly impulse which leads one man to do the 
work of another. 



OF SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS 67 



CHAPTER TWELFTH 

St. Tekesa Calls St. John of the Ckoss to 
AviLA. Eefokmation of the Monastery. 
His Trances. 

While St. John of the Cross was in Alcala de 
Henares, St. Teresa was sent by the apostolic 
visitor, Era Pedro Hernandez of the order of 
St. Dominic, to Avila as prioress of the monas- 
tery of the Incarnation. Notwithstanding the 
opposition of the nuns, constrained by her vow 
of obedience the saint entered and took posses- 
sion of the office of prioress in October, 1571, 
and, winning by degrees the affection of the dis- 
contented nuns, brought the monastery to a 
state of regularity and fervor. Meanwhile St. 
John of the Cross had returned from Alcala to 
Pastrana, and had reformed that monastery, 
restoring it to the true pathways of the new, 
Carmel. St. Teresa, in order to do her work 
more surely and leave durable traces of her 
presence in the convent of the Incarnation, 
where she had received the habit of Carmel and 
made her profession, and where she had en- 
joyed most wonderful visions and revelations, 
asked the visitor for St. John of the Cross as 
confessor of the monastery. The visitor as- 
sented gladly, and the saint came without delay, 
bringing with him another friar, German of St. 



68 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERING'S 

Mathias, as Ms companion. The visitor lodged 
them in a small honse close to the monastery 
of the Incarnation where they could live in 
peace. This was in the spring of 1572. 

The great sanctity of St. John of the Cross, 
hitherto known to few, began to be spoken of 
outside the order. The nuns of the Incarnation 
gave him their confidence without reserve and 
in obedience to him changed the order of their 
lives. 

St. Teresa had put an end to the great dis- 
tractions which were the result of too many 
visits to the monastery by seculars, and St. 
John of the Cross made the work perfect by 
stopping, directly and indirectly, confessions of 
the nuns to priests who were without the cour- 
age and will to correct the laxity resulting from 
frequent resort to the parlors. St. John dealt 
with the nuns gently and tenderly, but with con- 
stant firmness, and the community under the 
government of St. Teresa, though not keeping 
the rule which the prioress and the two con- 
fessors observed, became most observant and 
recollected, as we can see by a letter of St. 
Teresa to her sister Dona Juana, written 27 
September, 1572, in which the saint says, * ^ The 
barefooted friar who is confessor here is doing 
great things. He is Fra John of the Cross." 

God promoted the work by giving to the saint 
many supernatural gifts; among others, the 



OF SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS 69 

gift of miracles. Soon after he came to the 
Incarnation, one of the nnns, Dona Maria de 
Yera, fell into a sudden and dangerous illness, 
and before her danger was suspected by the 
nuns, became insensible. They sent for St. 
John of the Cross to administer the last sacra- 
ments. But before he entered the monastery 
the nun was dead, to the extreme grief of her 
sisters, one of whom, in the bitterness of her 
sorrow, reproached the saint as if he were to 
be blamed, saying, "Is this the way you take 
care of your children? This one has died with- 
out confession.^' 

The holy man made no answer, but turned 
back and went straight to the church, where 
before the most holy sacrament he poured out 
his soul, begging humbly for help. After a con- 
siderable time the nuns sent him word saying 
that the sister was restored to life. Whereupon 
he left the church and on the way met the nun 
who had spoken to him before. 

"My child," he asked, "are you satisfied?" 

He then went to the infirmary, heard the con- 
fession of the nun who had been restored to life, 
and gave her the last sacraments. When the 
saint had done for her all that could be done, 
God took her to himself. 

St. John was kind to these poor nuns in every 
way, and they were much to be pitied, for the 
monastery was very large and very poor. The 



^0 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERING'S 

nuns were more than a hundred in number and 
often in distress, wanting both food and rai- 
ment. One day, seeing a nun in a habit utterly 
unsuited to her, St. John went out and begged 
enough to supply her with another, for the 
monastery was too poor to do so. In many ways 
he thus manifested his compassion for their 
material distress. 

St. Teresa tells us how, in 1573, St. John of 
the Cross mortified her in the very act of giving 
her holy communion. St. Teresa liked to re- 
ceive large hosts, and had said so to St. John of 
the Cross. But he, intent on teaching perfect 
detachment, on that day divided one host be- 
tween the foundress and one of the nuns, not 
because there was a scarcity of hosts, but, says 
the saint, *^ because he wished to mortify me.'' 

One of the sisters, Beatriz of Jesus, who later 
became a barefooted nun, went to the parlor of 
the Incarnation on Trinity Sunday with a mes- 
sage to the prioress. To her great amazement, 
she saw St. Teresa raised in the air, where she 
remained unconscious of the messenger's pres- 
ence. Sister Beatriz withdrew and called other 
nuns who became witnesses of the same marvel. 
On the other side of the grating they discovered 
St. John of the Cross, also raised above the 
ground in the same way. The mystery was ex- 
plained to them afterwards. The two saints 
had begun speaking of the Most Blessed Trin- 
ity, and had fallen into a trance together. 



OF SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS 71 

St. Teresa often said it was impossible for 
any one to speak of God to St. John of the 
Cross, because either he or the other fell into 
a trance. 

On another occasion, when the two saints 
were conversing together, he rose from his seat, 
trying to hide from her what was coming on; 
and when she asked him if it was the beginning 
of a trance, he said simply, *^I think it is.'' 

Calmly and quietly he did his work among the 
nuns, who had hitherto been indifferently gov- 
erned. Although they were very many and the 
house was very poor, by degrees they were 
brought back to more regular observance. The 
world outside became conscious of the change 
within, and felt that the saints were responsi- 
ble for it. In a letter to Philip II, St. Teresa 
gives the credit to St. John of the Cross. ^^The 
city is amazed," she says, ^^at the exceedingly 
great good he has done here, and people take 
him for a saint; and in my opinion he is one, 
and has been one all his life" (Lett. 170, to 
Philip II, 4 Dec, 1577). 



72 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERING'S 



CHAPTER THIRTEENTH 

St. John of the Ceoss is Sought by Othee 
Communities foe Spieitual Dieection. Ex- 
OECiSM OF A Nun. Conveesion of a Deluded 
Religious. And of Othee Peesons. 

St. John of the Cross was now sought for 
throughout Avila for his great gift of spiritual 
direction. Troubled consciences, unquiet scru- 
ples, all yielded before him; and those whom 
melancholy or delusions had led astray, were 
brought back to the true ways of the spirit. 
Religious houses sent for him, and were by him 
wonderfully sustained; for his words were 
words of heavenly wisdom, not found in the 
land of those who live a pleasant life. 

There was at that time in one of the monas- 
teries of Avila a poor nun round whom satan 
had thrown his net. Her state was most pitia- 
ble, and her distress almost unbearable. She 
was tempted by the spirit of blasphemy, doubt 
and uncleanness. St. John of the Cross was 
sent to the monastery, and she revealed to him 
the whole story of her dismal temptations. He 
discerned the source of her troubles and applied 
remedies. She on her part accepted them and 
was delivered from her distress. But no sooner 
had the saint left her than the evil spirit re- 



OF SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS 73 

turned to the assault. Disguised in the likeness 
of St. John of the Cross, he sent for the nun to 
come to the confessional, and there he poisoned 
her with his deadly teachings. Next day the 
saint himself came and heard the confession of 
the poor nun, who had been more at ease, she 
said, because she had obeyed his directions 
given the night before, and made less resistance 
to the temptations by which she was tormented. 
The servant of God recognized the deceit of the 
tempter, and told her that he had not given her 
any directions the day before, nor had he been 
near the monastery. He then gave her certain 
instructions in writing, which he said she was 
carefully to observe ; and went his way. Imme- 
diately afterwards the nun received another 
letter, containing further instructions, but of a 
different kind. They were in the handwriting 
of the saint and signed with his name. So at 
least it appeared to the nun. The letter said 
that the former instructions required some cor- 
rection, because they demanded of her more 
vigilance than was fitting for her state ; that a 
certain degree of liberty was necessary to avoid 
scruples and secure greater quiet of conscience. 
The handwriting and signature of the saint 
were counterfeited so skillfully that the saint 
himself, when he saw them, admitted them to be 
his; though he recognized the forgery in the 
teaching, which was satan^s, not his. Seeing 
now that the poor nun was a puppet in the 



74 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERING'S 

hands of the evil one, the saint had recourse to 
the exorcisms of Holy Church, and thereby de- 
livered her from the great perils she was in. 

There was in another monastery a nnn who 
amazed everybody with her learning. She could 
speak many languages, and was wonderfully 
versed in arts and sciences. She could dispute 
in theology with the most learned theologian; 
her knowledge was so wonderful that people 
began to think her science was infused. Great 
doctors regarded her with reverence, for they 
were afraid of being guilty of rash judgment. 
But as all that is singular in religion is usually 
to be suspected, her superiors became uneasy 
about her, and resolved to have her spirit tested 
by St. John of the Cross. He was not willing at 
first to undertake the task; his sole desire was 
to be left alone in his poor cottage near the 
monastery of the Incarnation, and to be for- 
gotten of men. 

The repeated entreaties of her superiors con- 
strained him, and yielding to an impulse of the 
Holy Spirit he at last consented to see the nun. 
Before doing so he prepared himself by earnest 
prayer and penance, his usual armor, and then, 
committing the issue to the Lord, he went to 
the monastery. The nun came to the parlor, 
where the saint was waiting for her; but the 
moment she saw him she began to quake with 
sudden fear. Her tongue, usually so fluent, re- 



OF SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS 75 

fused its office. She could speak no language 
but her own and all her knowledge had de- 
parted from her. Her superiors, seeing this, 
and now fully persuaded that she was in the 
toils of the devil and a source of constant dan- 
ger to the religious round her, begged the saint 
to perfect the work he had begun. Compas- 
sionating the poor soul before him, he consented 
to their request, and exorcised the nun. The 
dumb spirit who had taken possession of her 
had to give up its prey and reveal the whole 
story of the long possession. 

The unhappy nun from her earliest years had 
been vain and foolish and fond of human ap- 
plause. The wicked spirit took advantage of 
her lightness, appeared before her and, though 
she did not know at the time what the vision 
meant, fascinated her imagination with his evil 
beauty. She herself was naturally quick, lively, 
and witty ; but, conscious of her ignorance and 
ashamed of it, she coveted knowledge. This the 
devil promised her, on the condition that she 
would promise to become his bride. The foolish 
girl, now in the power of the evil one, became 
more and more careless about her soul, and at 
last begun to hate God and his service, and to 
wish others also might do so. 

How she came to the monastery is not known ; 
perhaps the devil tempted her for his own ends 
to feign a vocation she had not. Anyhow the 



76 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERING'S 

irnns received her with joy, for her fame was 
great and she was admired by the people. For 
a long time the nnns among whom she lived had 
no suspicion of the dangers they had incurred, 
but now the wiles of the enemy were discov- 
ered, and the evil spirits confessed their hateful 
presence. St. John spoke to the nun of the in- 
finite mercy of God and enlightened her mind 
while appealing to her better self. She on her 
gart promised to do all in her power to free 
herself from the dominion of the devil. 

St. John returned to the monastery of the 
Incarnation, but immediately he was inwardly 
advised by the Holy Spirit to return to the 
monastery where the possessed nun lived. The 
devil had knocked at the door of the monastery 
in the disguise of St. John of the Cross and 
asked to see the nun in the parlor. He said he 
had something to tell her which he had forgot- 
ten before. The portress opened the door and 
allowed him to enter. The nun came to the 
parlor, where she found the evil one, who had 
put on the likeness of St. John of the Cross. He 
spoke to her of the grievous nature of her sins, 
the impossibility of forgiveness, and the power 
of the devil to compel her to continue in his 
service. The poor nun was utterly cast down. 
Her distress was all the greater because a f^w 
hours before St. John of the Cross had spoken 
to her of the goodness and mercy of God and 



OF SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS 77 

had encouraged her to do works of penance, 
trusting in God^s infinite love for men. 

St. John arrived at the monastery and asked 
to see the nun. The portress answered that it 
was not possible, because she was at the mo- 
ment in the parlor with St. John of the Cross. 

^^How can that be!'' said the holy man, ^*I 
am John of the Cross, and the one who is there 
can not be he. ' ' 

The portress opened the door and allowed 
him to enter. 

He went straight to the parlor and the mo- 
ment he came in the evil spirit vanished. 

The portress meanwhile had told the story to 
some of the nuns and they hurried to the parlor 
where they saw nothing but the nun bitterly 
weeping and in great distress of mind. 

The saint exorcised her and commanded the 
evil spirits, in the name of God, not only to 
confess how they came to have such power over 
the poor soul, but also to tell him the time of 
their possession and the number of the wicked 
spirits that dwelt in her. 

To the first question they answered that when 
the nun was only six years of age they entered 
into an agreement with her in writing and 
signed by her own blood; to the second, that 
they were three legions of evil spirits, and that 
Lucifer was the chief among them. 

Then the servant of God commanded in the 
name of God that Lucifer should present him- 



78 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERING'S 

self at once. He obeyed, manifesting his pres- 
ence by the grimaces and terrible words of the 
possessed nun. She became so ferocious and 
terrific that the other nuns ran away through 
fear. And not only the nuns, but even the com- 
panion of the holy father was terribly fright- 
ened; but the saint encouraged him, saying not 
to fear for he was a minister of God. 

Eeassured by him, the nuns and certain secu- 
lars returned to the room. Then St. John 
commanded the evil spirits to give up their 
prey and hand over the document of their infa- 
mous agreement. 

All this was done. In the presence of the 
community the devil hurled down at the feet of 
the prioress the bill signed by the unhappy nun. 

St. John's power over evil spirits caused the 
prioress of Medina del Campo to beg St. Teresa 
to send him thither. There was a nun in that 
house so grievously afflicted with melancholy 
that her sisters were afraid that her disease 
was not natural. St. John of the Cross went 
there from the monastery of the Incarnation, 
and having spoken to the nun, pronounced her 
disorder akin to madness. In the course of 
time his decision was found to be true. St. 
Teresa wrote a letter to the prioress, Ines of 
Jesus, her cousin, saying, ''I send you Fra John 
of the Cross to whom God has given grace to 
drive evil spirits away. He has now, here in 



OF SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS 79 

Avila, put to flight three legions of devils, 
whom in the name of God he commanded to tell 
their number, and he was obeyed on the in- 
stant/' 

Not only the evil spirits, but the world also 
was subject to his power. There was in Avila 
a young lady, beautiful, wealthy, and high-born, 
whose daily life was a scandal. 'The young men 
of the city, captivated by her beauty and man- 
ners, flocked round her whenever they could, to 
the great terror of her friends and relatives, 
who were alarmed at the freedom of her life 
and jealous of her honor. They implored her 
to go to confession to St. John of the Cross. It 
was their only hope of saving her from immi- 
nent ruin. But she refused to go near a con- 
fessor who would not allow her to continue her 
amusements. Her friends persisted and at last 
she consented to make her confession to the 
man of God. She went to the church and to the 
confessional, out of which she hardly expected 
to come forth alive, so much did she fear him. 
For she knew nothing of him but his austerities 
and miworldly life, so unlike her own. He 
heard her confession and spoke so gently to her 
that she was seized with amazement and re- 
solved to return to the same confessional. She 
did so and changed her life, putting aside her 
rich dresses, avoiding idle company and light 
amusements, doing penance and wearing sack- 



80 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERING'S 

cloth. Her conversion was a joy to tlie whole 
city, and the rest of her life edified her neigh- 
bors more than her former excesses had of- 
fended them. 

Two other conversions are recorded, both 
wonderful and effectual, wrought by him while 
he was confessor of the nuns of the Incarnation 
in Avila. 

One was of a nun who had become a scandal 
in the city. She had set aside the obligations of 
her state and was living in permanent and sac- 
rilegious adultery. The most merciful God 
brought her to the feet of our holy father, who 
softened her heart and converted her so per- 
fectly that her heart was conquered and re- 
stored to her master and spouse Jesus Christ. 
She detested her wickedness, hated sin and 
avoided the occasion of it, giving satisfaction to 
the public by her new and exemplary life. Her 
sacrilegious accomplice resented this change, 
and, full of hatred against the saint, waited one 
evening at the door of the monastery of the In- 
carnation, where the saint was hearing the 
confessions of the sisters. When he came out, 
the assassin fell upon him and with a stick gave 
him such terrible blows that St. John fell on 
the ground badly wounded, but very happy to 
suffer something for the love of God. He used 
to say afterwards that never in his life was he 
so happy as when beaten so cruelly by that many^ 



OF SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS 81 

because he suffered for God and for having 
delivered a soul from mortal sin. 

The other conversion was that of a young 
lady of a noble house in Avila, with great gifts 
of mind and body. She was a penitent of the 
saint and lived near the monastery of the In- 
carnation. Satan besieged her with special 
malignity and in the end brought her to the 
very brink of ruin. One night, as the servant 
of God was in prayer in his house, he was sur- 
prised by the sudden appearance of a woman. 
He trembled with fear and signed himself with 
the sign of the cross for he believed that satan 
himself stood before him. The miserable girl, 
divining his thoughts, told him he need not be 
afraid ; it was she herself, his penitent, and not 
the devil, who had come into the room. She 
told him that she had been tempted sorely and 
that she had resolved to fight no longer. The 
holy man heard her with horror, and, lifting up 
his eyes to heaven, full of the most compassion- 
ate zeal, he spoke to the miserable woman of 
the terrible judgment of God on sinners and 
the inevitable penalties which awaited her. She 
was moved at last and, bursting into tears of 
true contrition, fell upon her knees and cried to 
God for pardon. He then sent her away as 
quickly as he could, reserving for another time 
and a more fitting place her perfect reconcilia- 
tion with God. 



82 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERING'S 



CHAPTER FOUETEENTH 

Feiaks of the Mitigation Oppose the Reform. 
St. John of the Ceoss Made a Peisonee. 
He is Caeeied to Toledo. 

In the course of his fifth year in Avila, in 
1576, a most troublesome incident befel St. John 
of the Cross which it would be a relief not to 
mention if it were not precisely the most pre- 
cious gem in the halo of sanctity, venerated by 
Holy Church as the story of his life. This is 
the reason given by St. Teresa for speaking of 
it in many parts of her writings. Keeping in 
mind the good intentions which actuated the 
prelates of the observance and the conclusion 
arrived at by the general and commissary that 
the discalced fathers were obstinate and rebel- 
lious, the reader will see how the facts in the 
case display the holiness of St. John of the 
Cross and redound to the glory of the entire 
order of Carmel. 

Before St. Teresa's term of office as prioress 
of the monastery of the Incarnation in Avila 
came to an end, and while St. John of the Cross 
was still stationed there, the friars of the miti- 
gation struck their first blow at the reform of 
Carmel. In the year 1575 the general chapter 
of the order was assembled in Piacenza, in the 
duchy of Parma. That memorable chapter de- 



OF SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS 83 

creed the suppression tliroiiglioiit Spain of all 
monasteries of friars which had not been 
founded with the sanction of the general. 
Every one who was not willing to accept this 
decree was to be regarded as a rebel and pun- 
ished as such. This affected six or seven houses 
of the reform which had been founded with 
sanction of the nuncio. Only two, the house at 
Duruelo later removed to Manzera, and the 
house at Pastrana, had been founded with the 
permission of the general. 

Fra Jerome Tostado, a shrewd and courage- 
ous Portuguese friar, was appointed visitor of 
Spain and charged with the execution of this 
decree. After his instructions were given to 
him he set our for Spain, making no haste, but 
advancing slowly and deliberately to do his 
work. Towards the end of 1575 the prior of 
the Carmelites in Avila, acting under instruc- 
tions from Fra Jerome Tostado, removed St. 
John of the Cross and Fra German of St. Ma- 
thias from the chaplaincy of the monastery of 
the Incarnation, **to the exceeding great scan- 
dal of the city,'' writes St. Teresa. The nuncio 
was appealed to, and he ordered them to be 
brought back, at the same time forbidding the 
friars of the mitigation to hear confessions of 
the nuns or even to say mass in that monastery. 

The nuncio, Monsignor Ormaneto, died in 
1577. This was an occasion of great grief to 



84 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERING'S 

the friars of the reform, for he had been faith- 
ful and constant in their defense. His succes- 
sor, Monsignor Siega, was unfriendly to them,- 
considering them rebellions innovators bent on 
the ruin of the order. His opinion was due to 
men interested or deceived, who gained his con- 
fidence and led him to distrust St. Teresa her- 
self, representing her to be a restless and 
dissatisfied nun. The nuncio believed there was 
some truth at least in these miserable accusa- 
tions, and his anger was not lessened when the 
'* restless woman,'' as he once called St. Teresa, 
was elected prioress of the Incarnation by fifty- 
five nuns against forty-four who were in favor 
of Dona Ana of Toledo, one of the household. 
The fifty-five who elected St. Teresa were ex- 
communicated by the provincial. They sub- 
mitted to the prioress who had been elected by 
the minority and she was confirmed by the vicar 
of the general, Fra Jerome Tostado. He sent 
Fra Fernando Maldonado, prior of Toledo, to 
absolve them and make peace in the house. 

The prior had other instructions also. He 
was to detach St. John of the Cross from the 
reform, and failing that, to put him in prison 
as a disobedient friar. 

Father Fernando Maldonado began by trying 
to persuade the saint to return to the old ob- 
servance which he had abandoned nine years 
before. He said the reform was a scandal in 



OF SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS 85 

itself, a slur on the good name of the order and 
a life full of spiritual dangers because it was 
new. St. John could not be moved. Then Fra 
Fernando made up his mind to use force and 
take him with him to prison in 'Toledo where he 
was prior. 

Somehow or other this resolution to use vio- 
lence became known and several of the chief 
men in Avila, with certain relatives of the nuns,^ 
kept watch round the poor cottage of the two 
friars. Father Maldonado remained quiet and 
waited till by degrees the watch was discon- 
tinued. Thereupon, on the night of 3 December, 
he went with a band of armed men to the cot- 
tage and, although the two friars neither re- 
sisted nor wished to offer any resistance, they 
were bound and gagged. Father Maldonado 
took them for the night to the friars' monas- 
tery, but before shutting them in their cells he 
had them severely scourged as rebel children of 
their mother. We have this on the authority of 
St. Teresa's letter to the prioress of Seville, 
written 10 December, 1577. Next morning the 
prior sent for St. John of the Cross, desiring 
to obtain some information from him. The 
saint, guarded by his jailers, was led into the 
place where the prior was making his thanks- 
giving after mass and was left there. He, see- 
ing the door open, went out of the house to 
secure certain papers he had left behind in his 



86 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERING'S 

little cottage. When Ms absence was observed 
some of the friars followed him in all haste. 
They found him in the house, but before they 
reached there the saint had destroyed the 
papers. 

Fra German of St. Mathias was transferred 
to Moralejas. In the letter of St. Teresa to the 
prioress of Seville, referred to above, she says, 
*^The prior of Avila has taken Fra German to 
St. Paul's, Moralejas. . . . They say that on 
the road blood flowed from his mouth.'' 

St. John of the Cross was destined for Toledo. 
In order to avoid notice by the people of Avila, 
Father Maldonado made the saint change his 
habit and cover his feet, as if he were a friar of 
the old observance. The friar to whose keeping 
the saint was committed hated the reform and 
showed it by treating his prisoner harshly while 
on the road. A secular in the party was more 
compassionate and determined to help St. John 
to escape. He found opportunity of making his 
resolution known to the prisoner, but the only 
answer he got from the saint was that the friar 
in charge did not treat him half so harshly as 
he deserved. St. *John begged him therefore 
not to trouble himself further about him. The 
layman was not easily dissuaded. When they 
came to the inn where they were to lodge for the 
night, he went to the host and having told him 
what he had observed, said he believed the pris- 



OF SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS 87 

oner to be a great saint and lie wished to set him 
free. The inn-keeper entered into the plan, 
and told St. John of the Cross means of escape 
would be found during the night. It was all 
in vain. The holy man told him, as he had told 
the other, that he had no wish to escape. He 
was a willing prisoner. Thus he arrived in To- 
ledo, calm and joyous of heart, for he was reap- 
ing the fruits of many years of self-discipline. 

The seizure of the two friars filled Avila with 
dismay, but nobody could give any help. St. 
Teresa was at this time in her own monastery 
of St. Joseph in that city; herself in disgrace, 
but not disheartened. Unable to learn where 
the prisoners were hidden by their persecutors, 
she wrote at once to the king, Philip II, begging 
for help. *^I would rather,'' she said, *^he 
were in the hands of the Moors, for they per- 
haps would be more merciful. And this friar, 
who is so great a servant of God, is so en- 
feebled by his great sufferings that I fear for 
his life." 

His judges were waiting for him in the mon- 
astery of the Incarnation of the old observance. 
They were angry, not just, judges and their 
passion and prejudice prevailed. They were 
satisfied that the prisoner was guilty before 
they heard his defence, 



88 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERING'S 



CHAPTEE FIFTEENTH 

Trial an"d Impeiso:n-mext. Hardships in the 
Peisoe". Light ijt the Cell. Vision of 
OuE Lady. Peepaeations to Escape. 

According to the orders of the visitor general 
and the acts of the general chapter, St. John 
of the Cross was received in Toledo as a fugi- 
tive and contumacious friar. The next day he 
appeared before his judges, friars of the old 
observance, empowered by the vicar of the gen- 
eral in Spain to try him. 

The acts of the general chapter held in Pia- 
cenza were produced. He was asked to return 
to the observance quitted by him nine years 
before. His judges promised not only to for- 
give and forget the past, but also to treat him 
with great honor and raise him to high offices 
in the order. If he refused to submit he would 
be regarded as a rebellious friar, they said, 
and subjected to the penalties with which all 
religious orders punish contumacious children. 

Saint John heard them patiently and then 
with great humility replied that it was impos- 
sible for him to do what they required of him. 
The reform to which he belonged was lawfully 
established, with the consent of the general, by 
the visitors apostolic and the nuncio of His 



OF SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS 89 

Holiness ; he was bound to persevere, therefore, 
under obedience to higher authority, for the 
authority of the Pope is greater than that of 
the general chapter. He said he was in their 
power and was ready and willing to accept any 
punishment they wished to give him, although, 
since his ' superior was Fra Jerome of the 
Mother of God, he was not legally subject to 
their jurisdiction. 

The friars of the mitigation thought they 
were within their own right. 'They believed 
they were justified in restraining St. John of 
the Cross under authority of the general. The 
new nuncio also favored them, for he wished, 
as much as they did, to crush the reform. They 
had him in their power now, and they believed 
they had the right to chastise him as a rebel- 
lious friar. 

The servant of God was helpless and sub- 
mitted humbly to the sentence pronounced on 
him by men who had no jurisdiction over him. 
He had prayed for suffering, and his prayer 
was being heard. 

They gave him for a prison a small closet, 
not quite six feet wide and less than ten feet 
in length, at the end of a room in which guests 
of distinction were usually lodged. It was 
close and dark, without any window. Its scanty 
light came through a loophole not three inches 
wide, in the wall near the roof. To read his 



90 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERING'S 

breviary the prisoner had to stand on a bench 
and hold a book up under the light, which could 
be had only for a short time during the day 
when the sun shone in the corridor of the house. 

The door of this closet was padlocked. He 
could never leave it without the jailer's per- 
mission. Afterwards when the friars heard 
of the escape of his fellow-sufferer, Fra Ger- 
man of St. Mathias, from the monastery of 
Morale] as, the door of the room to which the 
closet belonged was also locked. They were 
determined to keep him safely, because they 
considered him, as in truth he was, the chief 
pillar of the hated reform. 

No one, except the friar who acted as jailer, 
was allowed to speak to him or even see him. 
In the evenings he was led to the refectory at 
the time of collation and there, on the floor, he 
had to take his food, which was generally bread 
and water. When the meal was over, the prior 
was accustomed to rebuke him severely, up- 
braiding him as a reformer of others when he 
needed reformation himself, and calling atten- 
tion of the community to him as to one who had 
set himself up to teach them before he had him- 
self been taught. 

When the prior ceased to speak the saint 
bared his shoulders to receive the public disci- 
pline inflicted on friars guilty of great offences. 
It is the heaviest penance which religious in- 



OP SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS 91 

flict as the penalty of disgraceful deeds. St. 
John of the Cross, walking in the footsteps of 
his Master, bowed his head and submitted to 
the terrible scourging, which was so unspar- 
ingly administered that his shoulders bore the 
mark of it for the rest of his days. He re- 
ceived it from the hands of God, who had the 
right to scourge him, and neither then nor 
afterwards did he ever complain of the friars, 
not even among his own brethren of the reform, 
who knew the whole story. He would never 
allow any one at any time to blame the friars 
of Toledo. 

At first they led him to the refectory every 
night. He longed for the evening, that he 
might submit once more to the torture. But 
his judges grew weary in time, and they sent 
for him only thrice in the week. This continued 
for some weeks ; then only on Fridays. Later, 
they spared him even on Fridays, and left him 
for weeks unmolested in his cell. This was to 
him a fresh grief. He complained to his jailer, 
asking why he had been forgotten and deprived 
of his only consolation. 

He was kept in prison more than eight 
months, during which time he was never al- 
lowed to change his clothes. He had to wear 
the habit of the mitigation which had been given 
him in Avila when he was made prisoner. This 
was a perpetual penance to him. His woolen 



92 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERING'S 

tunic underneath must have been saturated 
with blood, and frightfully soiled. But the 
friars were blind to their own cruelty. When 
he went out of the prison at last, he had become 
a burden even to himself. 

To add to his sorrows, the friars of the ob- 
servance would meet together in the room to 
which his cell belonged, and there they discussed 
the affairs of the reform. They spoke of the 
resolution of the nuncio, Monsignor Siega, to 
crush the reform, and narrated the strange 
charges brought against St. Teresa herself, 
of whom more evil was said than of Luther. 
They said the Visitor Jerome Gratian and other 
heads of the reform were already imprisoned, 
and that not only the reform was to be abolish- 
ed, but that its founders and all those who had 
anything to do with it were to be disgraced 
forever. All this was gall and wormwood to 
St. John, for he knew nothing of the state of his 
brethren. He therefore bewailed his own sins 
and imperfections which, in his humility, he 
considered the cause of the great ruin which 
had been wrought in Carmel. 

It was impossible for him to communicate 
with anybody. He was cut off from the rest 
of the world; no one knew where he was. As 
far as possible they also deprived him of the 
consolation of religion. It was with difficulty 
he could say his office. He was not allowed 
to say mass. 



OF SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS 93 

If he had gone to the Carthusians, as he pur- 
posed at the beginning of his priesthood, he 
conld have served God in peace and quietness. 
But here God had thrown him into the crucible 
to burn away the dross, to purify the spirit, 
and bring it to himself. In all these trials, in 
the depths of his sufferings, his patience never 
failed him. It was in this prison he composed 
several wonderful hymns, which afterwards he 
most admirably explained. 

His bodily pains may be, perhaps, compre- 
hended, but the spiritual sufferings by which 
his soul was raised on high, are unutterable. 
He was drawn in beneath the deep waters and 
hidden from the eyes of men bodily and spiritu- 
ally, so that none could comfort him. 

But God did not forsake his servant. One 
night the friar, who kept him, went as usual to 
see that his prisoner was safe, and witnessed a 
heavenly light with which the cell was flooded. 
He did not stop to consider it, but hurried to 
the prior, thinking some one in the house had 
keys to open the doors of the prison. The prior 
at once went with two religious to the prison, 
but on entering the room through which the 
prison was approached, the light vanished. 
The prior entered the cell but, finding no light, 
went away, thinking it was some illusion of the 
jailer. 

St. John at a later time told one of his breth- 
ren that the heavenly light which God so merci- 



94 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERING'S 

fully sent him, lasted the whole night and filled 
his sonl with joy. It made the night pass away 
as if it were but a moment. 

When his imprisonment was drawing to its 
close, he heard our Lord say to him, ^^John, 
I am here ; be not afraid. I will set thee free.'' 

On the eve of the Assumption of our Lady, 
1587, when he had been eight months in prison, 
the prior came suddenly with two of the friars. 
He found the saint on his knees in prayer. St. 
John thought it was only the jailer and con- 
tinued in prayer, but the prior touched him 
rudely and asked him why he had not stood up 
to receive him. The prior honestly believed his 
not rising up was an act of disrespect and was 
greatly displeased. The servant of God begged 
to be forgiven so simply and so humbly that the 
prior was softened for a moment and asked him 
what he was thinking of. 

St. John of the Cross answered, '*I was 
thinking that tomorrow is the feast of the 
Assumption of our Lady, and that it would be 
a great joy to me if I could say mass." 

The prior turned his back saying, ^*Not in my 
time, ' ' and went his way. 

'The saint was left alone in his sorrow, be- 
cause next day he was neither to say nor hear 
mass. But during the night that followed the 
day of the Assumption, our Blessed Lady came 
to his cell, making it radiant in the soft light 



OF SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS 95 

of her presence, and said to Mm, ^'My son, have 
patience, thy trials are nearly over; thou shalt 
leave the prison, say mass, and be glad/' 

His heart dilated at these words and he began 
to consider how he was to make his escape. He 
knew that his jailers would not release him, 
and he could not deliver himself. In this per- 
plexity, but confident that an escape was pos- 
sible, he continued for a day or two, and then 
our Lord himself appeared to him and bade 
him to be of good cheer, for he who enabled 
the Prophet Eliseus to divide the waters of the 
Jordan with the mantle of Elias and cross the 
river, would, without any difficulty, deliver him 
out of the hands of his tormentors. 

Believing that his deliverance was nigh, he 
took heart and waited, but he was still unable 
to understand how it was to be effected. Again 
our Lady appeared to him and in a vision 
showed to him a window of the monastery from 
which the Tagus could be seen. He was to 
descend from that window, she said, and she 
would save him from all danger. As he had 
never been in the monastery except as a prison- 
er, he knew nothing of the arrangements of the 
house. He would not have been able to find 
his way to that window even by day-light, still 
less in the darkness of the night. But our Lord 
prepared things quietly. The ordinary jailer 
who had been so harsh was called for some 



96 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERING'S 

other work, and a friar from Valladolid, of a 
more tender heart, was made his guardian. 
This friar, Fra John of St. Mary, touched 
by the patience and silence of the prisoner, be- 
came persuaded that he was a great saint. He 
therefore was as kind to him as he could be, 
and tried in every way to soften the rigors of 
his prison. "When the fathers were at recrea- 
tion or resting in the heat of the day, he would 
take St. John out of his cell and allow him to 
walk up and down the room to which it be- 
longed. 

And then he gave him greater freedom and 
allowed him to enter the corridor and even to 
look out of the windows. Thus it was that he 
discovered the window seen in the vision. 

He had been treated by his jailer with all the 
kindness in his power, and now, knowing that 
he was to leave him, he thanked him for his 
kindness and asked him to forgive all the 
trouble he had caused. He then gave him a 
crucifix which the friars had not taken from 
him. The cross was made of some rare wood 
on which the instruments of the passion were 
admirably figured, and the image of our Lord 
was of bronze. The saint had worn it under his 
scapular near his heart, and told his jailer that 
he prized it highly himself, not for the work- 
manship, but because it had been given to him 
by a most saintly person in whose possession it 



OF SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS 97 

had been for some time. He did not say that 

it was the gift, as it is believed, of St. Teresa 
herself, when he was the confessor of the nuns 
of the Incarnation, because at that time the 
name of St. Teresa was hateful in the ears of 
the fathers of the mitigation and this good 
friar from Valladolid was probably under the 
same misconception. 



98 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERING'S 



CHAPTER SIXTEENTH 

St. John of the Ceoss Escapes fkom the 
Peisox. Takes Refuse i:^ the Monas- 
TEEY OF St. Joseph. Is Peotected by 
Don Pedeo Gonzalo de Mendoza. 

When the servant of God saw the window 
which had been shown him in vision he knew 
the time had come for his escape. That night 
when his jailer, after giving him supper, went 
ont of the cell for some water, St. John loosened 
the staple of the padlock on his door. He was 
further favored by the jailer's forgetting that 
night to take away the lamp. 

Late in the evening the provincial, with some 
other religious, came unexpectedly to the mon- 
astery and two of them were lodged in the room 
which gave access to the prison of St. John. 
They continued for a long time conversing tOr 
gether. 

Meanwhile St. John was making prepara- 
tions. He tore the two cloaks which constituted 
his bedding into strips, and tied them together 
that they might serve him for a rope. After 
this he spent the rest of the time in fervent 
prayer. 

When he observed that the friars were sleep- 
ing soundly, about two o'clock in the morning. 



OF SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS 99 

he took the iron lamp and the rope he had made 
and, imploring our Lady's help, shook the door 
until the loosened staple gave way. 

The noise disturbed the sleeping friars, who 
cried out, "Who is there!'' 

He made no answer and they, knowing 
nothing of his presence, fell asleep again. He 
waited awhile, but a voice within him urged, 
"Be quick!" and when the two friars were 
again sound asleep, he left the cell and, crossing 
the room, went to the corridor and from there 
straight to the window which he had seen in 
the vision. 

The window had a wooden parapet, the lower 
part of which was not joined to the brickwork. 
He inserted the iron rod of the lamp into the 
opening and fastened the rope to it. Then, 
commending himself to God and his most holy 
mother, he let himself down in the darkness to 
a place he had never seen in his life. 

The rope was much too short; it did not 
reach half-way to the ground, but he, praying 
for help, let the rope go, and fell. 

He was neither stunned nor hurt, although 
he fell from a considerable height, and onto 
loose stones, heaped there for the building of 
the church of the monastery. 

He was still within the precincts of the mon- 
astery, and the night was dark. He had left 
one prison to find himself in another, of which 



100 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERINGS 

he knew nothing. As his eyes grew accustomed 
to the darkness, he saw a dog gnawing some 
bones. He went np to the dog and frightened 
him away, meaning to follow him and find a way 
out. The dog leaped over the wall which sepa- 
rated the monastery of the friars from a court- 
yard of the Franciscan nuns. This courtyard 
was behind the church and its walls were high. 

The saint was extremely weak from his long 
imprisonment and it was impossible for him to 
climb over the wall. In his distress he prayed 
again to our Blessed Lady for help, and some- 
how or other, he knew not how, he reached the 
top of the wall and let himself down on the 
other side. 

He was now freed from his prison, but when 
he had circled the courtyard of the nuns, he 
found there was no way out. Discovery in 
such a place would be worse than in any other. 
He was plunged into the depths of misery by 
his plight. He went again round the court, but 
could find no outlet. Having exhausted human 
means, he prayed that he who had begun to de- 
liver him would be pleased to finish his work. 

While still praying for help he saw a won- 
derful light out of which came a voice, saying, 
^* Follow me.'' 

He obeyed. The light moved before him to- 
wards the highest part of the wall, and then, he 
knew not how, he found himself on the summit 



OF SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS 101 

of it, without effort or fatigue. He descended 
into the street and the light vanished. 

It had been so brilliant that for two or three 
days afterwards his eyes were weak, as if he 
had been looking at the midday sun. 

He had never before been in Toledo and did 
not know where to go ; but, giving hearty thanks 
to our Lord for his miraculous escape, he took 
shelter in the porch of a large house, which had 
been left open. When the day began to break 
he saw a woman making ready her wares for 
the market and asked her the way to the mon- 
astery of the barefooted Carmelites, a monas- 
tery founded by St. Teresa in 1568. 

'The people who were abroad at that hour 
looked at him with amazement as he walked 
through the streets. He had on an old and 
worn habit and no mantle. His biographer 
says his appearance was rather that of a mad- 
man than a religious of Carmel. 

He knocked at the door of the monastery at 
about five o'clock in the morning. Mother 
Leonor of Jesus, who was the turner at that 
time, answered, and the saint said, *^ Daughter, 
I am Fra John of the Cross. Last night I es- 
caped from prison. Tell the mother prioress 
that I am here.'' 

The astonished sister did not lose time in 
delivering her message. The news of his escape 
ran through the monastery in an instant, and 



102 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERINGS 

made all the religious glad. He had been eight 
months close to them, and yet none of them had 
known where he was. 

At the moment of St. John's arrival at the 
door of the monastery, one of the sisters, Anne 
of the Mother of God, who had been ill for some 
time, thought herself to be in serious danger 
and asked for the confessor of the house. St. 
John had come in time to attend to her wants 
and the confessor was not disturbed. Weak 
and ill as he was, he ascended to the infirmary 
where the sister was supposed to be dying. The 
nuns saw that he could scarcely walk and that 
he was worn and weary ; so they insisted on his 
taking food before going in. Having gained a 
little strength, he entered the infirmary and 
began hearing the sister's confession. 

Just then the friars of the mitigation came to 
the monastery with the officers of justice. They 
searched the parlor, the confessional, the sac- 
risty, and the church, for they were persuaded 
he would go to that monastery, if not for ref- 
uge, certainly for the means of leaving Toledo, 
and they hoped to be in time to seize him. They 
did not find him, and went away, having failed 
to think of entering the infirmary. 

The nuns kept the saint in the house, and, as 
long as they could, in the infirmary, which was 
a place of safety. They asked him to tell them 
the story of his sufferings. They said it would 



OF SAINT JOHN OP THE CROSS 103 

comfort the sick to hear it, and he yielded to 
their wish. But in all he said there was not one 
word against the friars of Toledo, nor any trace 
of ill-feeing. He made excuses for them and 
took on himself all the blame. 

Meanwhile the sisters were providing a habit 
for him, for he was clad in the habit of the miti- 
gation. 

It was impossible to lodge him in the monas- 
tery, and to send him out was dangerous. The 
prioress, in her anxiety, sent for a great friend 
of the order, Don Pedro Gonzalez de Mendoza, 
canon and treasurer of the cathedral church, to 
whom she told what had taken place. Don 
Pedro took the saint to his own lodgings where 
he remained some days, and then, when he had 
recovered his strength, he went with two of Don 
Pedro 's servants to the monastery of Almodo- 
var del Campo, a house of friars of his own 
order and profession. 

Soon afterward St. Teresa came to Toledo 
from Avila and heard the story of the imprison- 
ment. She wished the nuncio to be told of 
the way in which the friars of the mitigation, 
whom he befriended, had dealt with one who 
was wholly innocent. 



104 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERINGS 



CHAPTER SEVENTEENTH 

The Refokm of Cakmel Eejoices at the Mibao- 
ULOus Escape of St. John- of the Ceoss. 
His Admikable Ecstasy in the Convent of 
Veas. The Saint Eetikes to the Convent 
OF Calvaeio. 

The news of our saint's miraculous escape 
filled all the reformed family with joy, and 
especially our holy mother St. Teresa, who had 
prayed for it so ardently. The superiors of the 
order assembled in the convent of Almodovar 
and congratulated the saint on his marvelous 
escape and gave most fervent thanks to God. 

All the superiors were present and forthwith 
gathered in chapter to make various appoint- 
ments for the benefit of the order. Era Pedro, 
prior of Calvario in Andalusia, was elected 
procurator of the reformed Carmel at the Vat- 
ican. St. John of the Cross was made vicar of 
the convent of Calvario. Two reasons influ- 
enced them in sending St. John to Andalusia, 
to the convent of Calvario ; first, to deliver him 
from the persecution of the fathers of the ob- 
servance, and second, to afford him in that very 
lonely place full satisfaction of his ardent desire 
for solitude with his Beloved. 

Era Pedro of the Angels, the newly elected 
procurator of the order to Eome, went to take 



OF SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS 105 

leave of St. Jolin, who, divinely enlightened, 
said to him, **You are going, my father, shoe- 
less to Eome ; but you will return to Spain with 
your shoes on.'' 

The prophecy was accomplished. Fra Pedro 
became lax and through weakness betrayed his 
trust. On his return to Spain, having done no 
service whatever to the order, he went back to 
his brethren of the mitigation in the convent of 
Granada, where he ended his days under a 
cloud of shame and sorrow. 

As soon as the chapter of Almodovar was 
over, St. John of the Cross left the place and 
on his way to Mount Calvary stopped at Veas 
to see the nuns there, and especially the prior- 
ess, the venerable Anne of Jesus. 

The nuns rejoiced to see the confessor who 
had suffered so much for the order and who 
was the great pillar of the reform among the 
friars. While he was with the sisters in the 
parlor, the prioress desired one of the nuns to 
sing. The sister sang, and her song was of the 
blessedness of suffering. 

Quien no sabe de penas 

En este triste valle de dolores. 

No sabe de buenas 

Ni ha gustado de amores 

Pues penas es el traje de amadores. 



106 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERINGS 

As soon as she began, St. Jolin felt that he 
was about to fall into a trance, so he made a 
sign to the religious to cease, but it was too 
late and he clung to the bars of the grating lest 
his body should be lifted up from the ground. 
He remained for an hour lost in prayer, insen- 
sible to all around him. The nuns of Veas be- 
came witnesses of a marvel which the nuns of 
the Incarnation at Avila had seen when he was 
confessor there. 

The chair in which the servant of God sat 
on this occasion was religiously kept by the 
coromunity, and even escaped the fire in 1810. 
It is now in the possession of the Carmelites of 
Jaen; a considerable fragment of it is in the 
Carmel at Brussels (Vie de la Mere Anne de 
Jesus, Vol. I, P. 246). 

From Veas he went to the monastery of 
Mount Calvary, far away from the tumults of 
men, in the solitudes of Andalusia. The friars 
of Penuela had removed thither in December, 
1576, in obedience to the decree of the first 
chapter of Almodovar, held 18 September of 
that year. This was done under Fra Pedro of 
the Angels who removed the community, thirty 
in number, and established it in a solitude called 
Corenzuela. The monastery was henceforth 
known as the monastery of Mount Calvary. 

Fra Pedro was a man of great zeal, mortified 
and laborious. He was favored with the gift 



OF SAINT JOHN OP THE CROSS 107 

of prayer and was often seen lost in rapture. 
The order thought so well of him, as we have 
seen, that he was elected as the delegate of the 
friars to go to Rome. 

But he had not been prudent in the govern- 
ment of the monastery of Mount Calvary. He 
had sanctioned many practices which were not 
wise. As before in Pastrana, so now in Coren- 
zuela, St. John of the Cross, whose whole life 
h<^d been one continued mortification, had to re- 
strain and temper the mortification of others, 
by checking practices and observances which 
had crept in or had been openly brought in 
without warrant of the rule and constitutions. 

There were men in this monastery who de- 
fended these novelties, saying the rule allows 
things to be done which are not enjoined by it. 
He answered that the permission was for single 
persons, not for whole communities. They 
urged upon him a further consideration that 
this house was far away from the concourse of 
men, and as none outside the monastery claimed 
their services, they were therefore free to lead 
a more rigorous and penitential life. St. John 
of the Cross would not give way before any 
plausibilities of this kind. He insisted on the 
careful observance of the rule and constitutions 
by which their lives were to be ordered. They 
were to attain to perfection in a definite way, 
he said, and not by inventions of their own. 



108 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERINGS 

The friars of Carmel were called to one special 
kind of life, and they would miss their road if 
they departed from it. 

He was always pitiless when he encountered 
extravagances of men who were too wise to 
keep the law under which they were obliged to 
live. He lopped off the excesses of Corenzuela 
as he had done like excesses in Pastrana. He 
who was so austere himself, was never austere 
with others; he would not impose rules of his 
own, nor allow others to impose them. As in 
the government of communities, so in the direc- 
tion of single persons, he never made himself 
their master. He was content to administer 
the law and watch over its observance. 

** Spiritual directors,'^ he said, **are not the 
chief workers, but rather the Holy Ghost. They 
are instruments only, to guide souls by the rule 
of faith and the law of God according to the 
spirit which God gives to each. Their object, 
therefore, should not be to guide souls by a way 
of their own, suitable to themselves, but to as- 
certain, if they can, the way by which God him- 
self is guiding them.'' (Living Flame, Stanza 
III.) 

While he was checking extravagances and 
moderating penances in others, his own life was 
the most penitential in the house. But his pen- 
ances never were in the way, and his austerities 
never interfered with the regular observance 



OF SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS 109 

of the community. His cell was tlie poorest 
and the most scantily furnished. He had in it 
but two books, his breviary and the Holy Bible. 
If he wanted other books he went to the library 
for them and took them back as soon as he had 
done with them. He slept about two hours dur- 
ing the night. The remainder was spent in 
prayer, either in the church before the most 
holy sacrament, or in his cell. He resumed 
the terrible penances of Duruelo, and gave his 
body no rest. It was the only creature of God 
for whom he had no mercy. 

The former prior of Momit Calvary, among 
other mortifications visible to the outer world, 
had allowed the friars to go out to beg for the 
monastery. St. John of the Cross always re- 
sisted this. It was not directed by the rule and 
it was in his eyes the high-road to dissipation 
and loss of the recollected spirit which is one 
of the graces and charms of Carmel. He would 
not allow any begging under any conditions. 
The friars were the servants of God, he said, 
and he, as the good master of the house, would 
provide for their wants. The faith of the saint 
was strong and clear, and it pained him to see 
one of his religious give way to uneasy thoughts 
about the sustenance of his brethren. 

One day he was told that there was no food 
in the house, but he was not troubled by the 
news. The community came to the refectory at 



110 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERINGS 

the appointed time, for he had ^iven orders 
that no change should be made. A fragment of 
bread was found and by his direction brought 
into the refectory and grace was said. The 
fathers sat down before an empty table and 
St. John spoke to them of the hidden graces 
of poverty, of the merit of suffering and con- 
formity to the will of God, with so much unction 
that the fathers left the refectory with their 
hearts on fire. 'They gave thanks to God for 
leaving them that day without food to eat. 

They retired to their cells and no sooner had 
they begun to prepare themselves for prayer 
than the whole house was disturbed by a loud 
knocking at the outer door. The porter went 
to the door and saw there a man with a letter 
for the prior. The porter took it and finding 
St. John in the church praying before the holy 
sacrament, gave it to him. The saint opened it 
and as soon as he read it, began to cry like a 
man in pain. The porter was greatly distressed 
and begged him to tell why he was weeping so 
bitterly. 

**I cry, my brother, '^ the saint replied, ^* be- 
cause God thinks us too weak to bear hunger 
any longer. He could not trust us for one day 
and is sending us food.'' 

In the afternoon a servant of Dona Filipa de 
Caravajal came from Ubeda with two mules 
laden with provisions for the house. 



OF SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS 111 

On another occasion the community had no 
food for the sick fathers in the infirmary. The 
religious went down to pray before the most 
blessed sacrament and while they were in 
prayer abundant supplies of provisions, with 
medicine and two hundred reals in money, were 
sent them by Don Andres Ortega Cabrio, who 
knew nothing of the distress of the monastery. 

In the town of Iznatorafe, about six miles 
away from the monastery, was a man possessed 
of the devil. His friends and relatives, having 
heard of the sanctity of the vicar of Mount 
Calvary, implored him to come to their relief. 

The saint yielded to their importunities and 
visited the place. 

The man possessed was brought to him and 
the evil spirit, betraying before all present the 
terror which had seized him, in a whining voice 
began to complain that another St. Basil had 
come. 

The servant of God commanded him in the 
name of Christ to cease from his possession 
and on the instant the evil spirit departed and 
the man was restored to perfect health of mind 
and body. 

But the devil, thus defeated, was bent on re- 
venge and, entering into a woman who lived in 
a village through which the servant of God had 
to pass on his way home, waited his arrival. 
As the saint was passing, the woman came forth 



112 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERINGS 

to meet him and begged him to come into her 
house, but he turned away saying he would 
rather go into hell than into her house. 

From Corenzuela he went once a week to 
Veas to hear the confessions of the nuns there. 
The road was hilly and rough but he, as worn 
out as he was, went always on foot, never heed- 
ing either weather or distance. The nuns were 
earnestly recommended by St. Teresa through 
the prioress, Anne of Jesus, to have recourse 
to his services, for he was a man, she said, ^*of 
great spirituality, learning, and experience.'' 
On another occasion she writes to the samfe 
prioress saying, *^I have not one like him in all 
CastiUe." 

In the monastery of Mount Calvary, the saint 
began to write on mystical theology. Two of 
his greatest books, the Ascent of Mount Carmel 
and the Dark Night of the Soul, were written 
there. 



OF SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS 118 



CHAPTER EIGHTEENTH 

FOUDATION OF BaEZA. PoVEBTY OF THE HoUSE. 

MiEACuLOus Relief. . 

The saint had been scarcely seven months in 
Corenzuela when one day, while conversing 
with some of the sisters in Veas, he said that 
he would not be long their confessor. They 
were surprised, and asked the reason. After 
some hesitation, for probably the words had 
escaped him, he told them he must leave Coren- 
zuela for Baeza, where another house of the 
order would be soon founded. When the nuns 
heard this, they were not troubled at the news„ 
because another foundation was then considered 
impossible. 

The people of Baeza, a rich and noble city, 
seeing the fathers of the reform in Penuela, 
wished to have them also within their own gates 
and requested Era Angel de Salazar, then su- 
perior of the barefooted Carmelites, to send 
them to Baeza. In the spring of 1579 the saint, 
in obedience to the command of his superior, 
went from Corenzuela to the old house of Penu- 
ela, which had been reoccupied by the friars 
August 11, 1577. From this house the saint 
took several members for the new foundation. 
All preparations having been made, he returned 



114 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERINGS 

to Mount Calvary, and from thence, with his 
religious, on foot and fasting, set out for 
Baeza, 13 June, 1579. All the furniture they 
had was carried by one ass. They arrived in 
the evening, and made preparations to open the 
house the following day. Next morning, which 
was Trinity Sunday, the little bell of the com- 
munity which had been hung out of the window, 
was rung. St. John of the Cross said mass, and 
took possession. 

This house was a college, like that founded 
in Alcala de Henares in 1570, and St. John of 
the Cross was its founder and rector. A saintly 
priest, Alvaro Nunez Marcelo, who had helped 
greatly in the second foundation of Penuela, 
came to see the friars. He was shown the house 
and all that it contained. The altar of the tem- 
porary church alone was furnished. The rest 
of the house was bare, and the furniture even 
of the altar was of the poorest kind consistent 
with reverence. The priest was edified exceed- 
ingly, and went his way. Next day he sent 
some mattresses to the college, that the fathers 
might have at least something to sleep on. The 
rector was most grateful, as he always was for 
the slightest kindness shown him, but he would 
not accept the gift of the tender-hearted priest. 

^^The Carmelites," he said, *^ sleep on the 
floor when well, and at present there is no sick- 
ness in the house." 



OF SAINT JOHN OP THE CROSS 115 

In the prison in Toledo, where he had learned 
the inestimable worth of suffering and poverty, 
St. John of the Cross had been raised by God 
to such heights of prayer as words cannot de- 
scribe. He had seen and tasted heavenly food 
and would not throw it away, nor refuse it to 
his brethren, within the measure of the rule. 
He governed the house and trained it, as he had 
trained the others over which he had been 
placed, in silence, by prayer and meditation, 
and by the strict observance of the rule and 
constitutions. The doctors of the university 
could not refrain from praise of the new house 
even in their public sermons, and the odor of 
its good name was spread throughout Andalu- 
sia. The friars were hardly ever seen out of 
their church ; only the students went out to the 
public lectures, and they were so recollected 
and mortified that they caused devotion in those 
who saw them pass. Though the house was 
founded for the service of the students, yet 
such was the order and recollection of it that 
novices were admitted into it without any in- 
convenience, either to them or to the students. 

As the rector of the house, St. John of the 
Cross was compelled to unite the active with 
the contemplative life ; necessarily he had many 
cares, and often had to converse with seculars. 
Living as he was, on the alms of the faithful, 
he had obligations to fulfill towards those who 
did him good. 



116 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERING'S 

In all this he was exact ; but the silence of the 
house was not disturbed and the religious were 
not seen in the streets. He commended his 
benefactors to the care of God and served them 
to the utmost of his power in the pulpit and in 
the confessional. He would not allow that there 
was any necessity for appearing abroad. A 
religious out of the convent was in his opinion 
like a fish out of water. 

It happened more than once that friars came 
to the refectory to find nothing but empty 
tables; and then St. John would say, **We may 
return to our cells ; for as we have nothing to 
eat, it is a proof that we ought not to do so, 
seeing that our Lord has not provided for us." 
But as our Lord never disappoints those who 
trust in him, so it was in Baeza; for when the 
house was utterly empty, there would come men 
to the gate of the college with provisions 
enough for the wants of all therein. 

The year 1580 was a year of sickness in 
Spain, and the house of Baeza suffered like the 
rest. At one time there were twenty friars in 
the infirmary, and there were neither beds for 
them to lie on, nor food to nourish them, nor 
medicine to give them. The procurator in his 
distress went to the rector, and begged leave 
to go out to seek help from the town. The rec- 
tor replied that he longed himself for means to 
relieve the sick, but he did not think it was right 
to be troublesome to the people outside. 



OF SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS 117 

^*We have our Lord in the house to help us,'' 
he said, **and instead of wasting our time going 
about the streets, let us spend it in the choir 
and ask him to help us, and he will do it. ' ' 

That very night, and again in the morning, 
some good people sent twenty mattresses and 
much food to the house, and the sick were re- 
lieved. 

St. John had a very great devotion to the 
Most Holy Trinity. He continually said the 
mass of this great mystery. They asked him 
one day why he said that mass so often; he 
answered pleasantly, **I say the mass of the 
Most Holy Trinity because there is no one more 
holy in heaven. ' ' 

Saying mass had become to him now what 
it is to so many saints, a torment and a joy. 
The inflowing of the divine communications was 
so abundant and so vehement as to overpower 
all resistance on his part. The humble and 
lowly servant of God suffered exceedingly when 
these communications became visible and known 
to others. One day, while saying mass in Baeza, 
all his efforts to control himself proved un- 
availing. When he drank the most precious 
blood, before he could replace the chalice on 
the altar, his soul was carried away by the 
divine communications and he remained mo- 
tionless as if dead. After some time he recov- 
ered himself partially; but being still uncon- 



118 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERINGS 

scions of the place he was in, lie came down 
from the altar, and made for the sacristy to 
hide himself. The people were amazed, and 
looked one to another in wonder. At last a 
pions woman cried ont, ^ ' The saint is nnable to 
go on; call for the angels to finish the mass, 
for they alone can do it with dne devotion.'' 
The friars in the house heard what had hap- 
pened, and one of them came down into the 
church, led the holy man back to the altar, and 
helped him to finish the mass. 

The nuns of Caravaca were in sore trouble, 
and St. John of the Cross, at the request of St. 
Teresa, went thither to console them. While 
there the nuns saw rays of light round him at 
the altar, and the prioress. Mother Anne of St. 
Albert, asked him in the confessional what had 
happened to him while at the altar. He replied 
at once that God revealed himself to his soul 
with such force that he could hardly complete 
the sacrifice, and that he was occasionally afraid 
to say mass. 



OF SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS 119 



CHAPTEE NINETEENTH 

St. John's Devotio>t to the Mysteries of the 
Humanity of Jesus Cheist. His Fervent 
Eeheaesal OF Martyrdom. His Confidence 
IN Divine Providence. His Perfection in 
THE Practice of Various Virtues. 

With the same devotion with which he offered 
the holy sacrifice of the mass and venerated 
the divine mysteries, St. John of the Cross also 
celebrated the feasts and solemnities of the 
sacred humanity of Christ, and very specially 
his birth-day at Christmas. During this fes- 
tival he did not permit elaborately prepared 
performances, because they occasion distrac- 
tions rather than devout and holy recreation. 
But he made much of improvised dramatics, as, 
for example, on one occasion he distributed 
some of his friars through the cloisters of the 
convent to represent the householders of Beth- 
lehem, while two of the religious, adjusting 
their habits without the aid of secular ornament, 
played the part of the most holy Virgin and St. 
Joseph trying to find a lodging. The saint him- 
self went with them and asked lodging for the 
guests, and when he approached one of the 
houses and saw the doors shut against the son 
of God in the womb of the holy Virgin, his elo- 
quence was great in representing the merits of 



120 PRAYERS. WORKS AND SUFFERINGS 

the holy family, reprimanding the hardness of 
the inn-keepers, complaining most lovingly with 
the eternal Father for consenting to such things, 
and consoling the holy Virgin and St. Joseph in 
such great trouble. His arguments were so 
sweet and affectionate that the religious burst 
into tears and there was no heart so hard as not 
to respond with lively sympathy. 

Next day St. John dramatized the child al- 
ready born, with whom he entertained himself 
in heavenly conversation. On one of these oc- 
casions he was filled with such impetuous feel- 
ings of joy that he went to a table on which a 
statue of the infant Jesus was placed and, 
taking it in his arms, began to dance with such 
great fervor that he seemed to be out of his 
mind. In comparison with the habitual mod- 
esty and calmness of the holy man this was very 
strange to his brethren. 'Then in the midst of 
these joys, he burst out singing. 

Mi dulce y tierno Jesus, 
Si amores me han de matar, 
Ahora tienen lugar. 

Absorbed in the sweetness of this mystery 
and the love of the infant Jesus, his face glowed 
cheerfully as if it were enflamed with the di- 
vine love. 

To kindle more quickly this divine fire, he 
used at other times to stage rehearsals of 
martyrdom. He introduced these rehearsals 



OF SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS 121 

into the college of Baeza to inflame his religious 
in the love of God and appease his own ardent 
desires for suffering. To this purpose he used 
to speak during recreation of the excellency of 
martyrdom, and when he saw his hearers fer- 
vent and well disposed, he would say to them: 

** Perhaps God has willed us to be martyrs. 
Let us therefore practice it now at least in rex)- 
resentation. Let us rehearse it now so that 
when the time comes we may be prompt to die 
for him.'* 

He prepared the rehearsal, appointing one to 
be the tyrant, another the accuser, a third the 
executioner, while he took the part of the 
martyr, to encourage others by his example. 
Knowing how fond the holy father was of these 
rehearsals, the master of novices of the noviti- 
ate of Jaen invited him to participate in one of 
them at the novitiate. The master of novices 
and our blessed father were the martyrs. The 
Christians were accused before the judge, who 
was seated on his tribunal and questioned them 
severely about their faith. They having con- 
fessed with great fervor the holy Catholic faith 
and detestation of every error, sect and heresy, 
the judge commanded their backs to be laid 
bare and the victims to be tied to two orange 
trees in the garden and there to be scourged 
until they repented and renounced the faith of 
Christ. The executioners carried out th« 



122 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERINGS 

orders of the judge as if it was a case of real 
punisliment. The fervor of St. John of the 
Cross was so great and his desires of suffering 
so vehement that he laughed at the scourges 
and reproached the executioners with being 
cowards. Carried away with the spirit of his 
part he even made use of his authority (he was 
then vicar-provincial of Andalusia) and com- 
manded them to scourge him so severely that 
his blood would run all over his back. They 
really did so and he was very happy and cheer- 
ful. The judge, seeing the perseverance and joy 
of the martyrs, commanded the persecution to 
cease and the rehearsal was over. 

While our saint was enjoying his wonderful 
communications with Grod in the college of 
Baeza, the decree of separation of the discalced 
Carmelites from the fathers of the observance 
was obtained from Gregory XIII. To execute 
this decree the discalced fathers met in chapter 
in Alcala de Henares on the fourth of March, 
1581. In this chapter they elected four defini- 
tors, of whom our saint was the third and, 
burdened with this office, after having finished 
the chapter, he went to Baeza to continue his 
work of rector. He remained in Baeza till the 
fourteenth of June, when the community of 
Granada elected him their prior; this was the 
first time that he governed a house. 



OP SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS 123 

He succeeded one of Ms own novices of Pas- 
trana, Fra Augustine of the Kings, who remem- 
bered and observed the lessons of his master. 
Fra Augustine lived and died a saint, and after 
his death his body saw no corruption. Earnest, 
simple and fervent, he governed his house ac- 
cording to the rule and constitutions and there- 
fore St. John had here no changes to make nor 
fallen discipline to restore. The religious were 
docile and fervent and the order of the house 
was exact. 

The visitor, Fra Diego of the Trinity, went 
down to Granada to make his visitation, and the 
only thing he found fault with was the great 
retirement in which the fathers lived ; the prior 
was never seen outside his monastery, and the 
visitor thought he showed want of due consid- 
eration for the friends and benefactors of the 
order. St. John of the Cross, having learned 
the wishes of his superior, gave up his own 
opinion, and, it being Christmas time, made up 
his mind to call on the archbishop and the 
president of the chancery. As the house of the 
latter was near the monastery, he called there 
first, having one of his friars with him. The 
president received him with the utmost respect 
and courtesy; for the saint, if not seen outside 
of the monastery, was well known in the city. 
St. John, after the usual salutations, with great 
humility, begged the president to excuse him for 
his past negligence. The president said there 
was nothing to be excused. 



124 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERINGS 

**For,'' he said, ^*we like, father prior, to see 
you and your religious in your own houses 
rather than in ours; in the first you edify us, 
in the latter you entertain us. ' ^ 

The servant of God took his leave as quickly 
as he could and, without making his visit to 
the archbishop, returned to the monastery. On 
the way he said to his companion, 

* ' This man has put us and the whole order to 
shame. I wish we had all of us heard him, 
that we might be convinced how little we gain 
by this folly of making visits. * ' 

As soon as he had returned to the house he 
told the community what had happened and then 
added, 

'^My fathers, you cannot have a more trust- 
worthy proof of what the people in the world 
ask of us than this given by one of them. They 
do not want us as courtiers, but as saints ; and 
that not in their own houses, but in ours, pray- 
ing to God in their behalf 

One day a certain personage of Granada tried 
to move him from his course, showing the ad- 
vantage of calling on some wealthy persons who 
would give abundant alms to complete the build- 
ing of the monastery. 

The servant of God replied, ^^ These people 
will give their alms either for my sake or for the 
sake of God. If the latter, there is no reason 
why I should press them. If for my sake, I 
see no reason why I should trouble them to give 



OF SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS 12i 

away their goods for so poor an end as giving 
pleasure to me/' 

One night after compline Fra Augustine of 
St. Joseph, the procurator, came to him and 
having told him that there was nothing in the 
house for the next day, asked leave to beg for 
the necessary food. 

**Well,'' said the saint, *^God has plenty of 
time to provide for us, we need not be in such 
a hurry to make him a defaulter. We have had 
our supper and he who gave us tonight our sup- 
per will give us tomorrow our dinner. ' ' 

The procurator withdrew, but next morning 
he came back with the same request. The ser- 
vant of God would not listen to him, notwith- 
standing his importunity and the distress he 
was in. The saint had put his whole trust in 
God and was not put to shame, for while the 
friars were saying prime there came a man to 
the gate and asked the porter of what the re- 
ligious were in need. He said he had not been 
able to sleep the whole night because an interior 
voice had said, ^^Thou art at ease and the friars 
in the monastery of the martyrs are in want.'* 

The porter told him that there was no food 
in the house and the good man immediately 
supplied it. 

The saint, though he disliked and discouraged 
begging, lived on alms all his life, and cherished 
his poverty as a special grace of God. In popu- 
lous and wealthy places, however, such as Baeza 



126 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERINGS 

and Granada, he would allow two of tlie brothers 
to go out twice in the week, "Wednesdays and 
Saturdays, to beg alms at the doors of the 
houses. But that was done to keep people from 
saying that the houses he governed were al- 
ways fed by miracle. He trusted in God and 
had no misgivings. He was God^s servant, 
this was God's house, and he knew that the 
Master would provide for his own. 



OF SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS 127 



CHAPTER TWENTIETH. 

FoUi^DATION OF THE MONASTEEY OF NuNS IN 

Gean-ada. St. John of the Cross is In- 
sulted IN THE Steeets. He Watches Ovee 
THE Novices Undee Veneeable Anne of 
Jesus. 

The people of Granada, edified by the friars, 
wished to have also the nuns of the new Carmel 
in their city and some of the chief personages 
in it pressed the matter upon Era Diego of the 
Trinity, then plrovincial vicar of Andalusia. 
The vicar gave his consent and made it known 
to the Venerable Anne of Jesus during his visi- 
tation of the monastery of the nuns at Veas in 
the month of October, 1581. But Anne of Jesus 
was then very ill and had no confidence in 
the promises made to Era Diego. She was 
persuaded moreover that the archbishop, Don 
Diego de Salvatierra, would not allow another 
monastery to be built in Granada. One morn- 
ing during holy communion she changed her 
mind and, having consulted her confessor, St. 
John of the Cross, she determined to go to 
Granada as one of the nuns, hoping that St. 
Teresa herself would come from Avila for the 
foundation. 

On the thirteenth of November Era Diego 
ordered St. John of the Cross to go to Avila, 



128 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERINGS 

where St. Teresa was then staying, and bring 
her to Granada with the care and consideration 
^^ befitting her person and her years.''* St. 
John made the journey to Avila and saw the 
mother of Carmel there for the first time since 
the seizure of his person in the cottage near the 
monastery of the Incarnation. 

But she could not go herself to Granada be- 
cause she was about to make a foundation in 
Burgos. Moreover, the two saints were as poor 
as they could be. On the twenty-ninth of No- 
vember, 1581, St. Teresa wrote to the father 
provincial, who was himself in distress in Sala- 
manca, ^'Fra John of the Cross wished very 
much to send you some money and fully counted 
on it if he could spare a part of that which had 
been given to him for his journey, but he could 
not. I think he will try to send you some later. 
Antonio Euiz . . . has given four scuddi for 
you. I am waiting for the means of sending 
them to you. It is as much as I can do not to 
keep them myself; for, as matters are at pres- 
ent, I should not be surprised if I were tempted 
to steal." 

On the feast of the Immaculate Conception, 
St. John returned to Veas with two nuns from 
Avila and another from Toledo. The nuns 
waited at Veas till Monday, 15 January, 1582, 
when the Venerable Anne of Jesus with her 

♦Letter of St. Teresa, 363; note of Fra Antonio of St. 
Joseph, p. 7, vol iii. Letter 31. 



OF SAINT JOHN OP THE CROSS 129 

nuns, attended by St. John of the Cross and 
Fra Pedro of the Angels, set out in the cold 
winter at three o 'clock in the morning. During 
the journey none of their spiritual exercises 
were omitted. The hours of prayer and medi- 
tation were observed and the divine office said 
devoutly as if they had been in a monastery. 
On Friday they reached Dayfuentes, a village 
not far from Granada, where they were told 
that the house taken for them in the city could 
not be had. It was too late now to stop the 
nuns, who were on the road. Their friends 
were therefore in the greatest trouble, not 
knowing what to do; besides, they had not 
obtained, and could not obtain, the consent of 
the archbishop to make the foundation. He 
was resolved to have no more nuns in the city. 

Friday night, while the nuns were still at 
Dayfuentes, they heard the sound of fearful 
thunder. The tempest raged in Granada and 
the palace of the archbishop was struck. Part 
of his library was burnt and some of his mules 
were killed. The lightning entered close to the 
room where the archbishop was sleeping. He 
was so much frightened he became ill and he 
had to keep his bed the following day. 

There was in Granada a penitent of St. John 
of the Cross, Dona Ana de Mercado y Penasola. 
She dwelt in a good house with her brother, 
Don Luis de Mercado, who was one of the chief 
persons who urged the foundation. Don Luis 



130 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERINGS 

said to Ms sister, ^"The nuns are on the road 
and it would be well if they could come here 
till they can find a house.'' Dona Ana not only 
gave her house, but busied herself in making 
the necessary arrangements, especially in fin- 
ishing a room to be used as a chapel. At three 
o'clock on the morning of 20 January, 1582, 
the two friars with the nuns came to the door 
and there stood Dona Ana ready to receive 
them. 

Anne of Jesus took possession of the house 
as if it were her own and on entering began with 
the nuns to sing the Laudate Dominum. She 
then ordered the doors to be shut and would not 
let any of the friars say mass before she com- 
municated with the archbishop. She sent a 
letter to the archbishop announcing her arrival 
in Granada and begged his blessing. She also 
begged him to come and reserve the most holy 
sacrament, adding that though it was a feast 
day she would not hear mass without his sanc- 
tion. It was said that the archbishop was much 
changed after the storm, and it seems that there 
was truth in the report. He sent word that 
he was sorry he could not come himself, being 
unwell, but he would send his vicar-general who 
would say mass and do all that Ana of Jesus 
desired. The vicar came and gave communion 
to the nuns and reserved the most holy sacra- 
ment. 



OF SAINT JOHN OP THE CROSS 131 

St. John of the Cross retired to his own 
house, leaving the nuns' foundation in the 
hands of the Venerable Ana of Jesus, but he 
afterwards supplied her with food and many- 
necessary things. Dona Ana saw the nuns al- 
ways contented and cheerful and, not suspect- 
ing that they were hiding their needs from her, 
left them in sore distress, so that St. John of 
the Cross, out of his poverty, had to come to 
their relief. 

Soon after this the servant of God, coming 
out of his monastery, was met in the street by 
a woman with a child in her arms. She held 
out the child before him and asked him to main- 
tain it, for it was his own. The holy man bade 
her begone but she persisted in following and 
insulting him. At last he stopped, for a crowd 
was gathering, and calmly asked her who was 
the mother of the child. The wretched woman 
answered it was a great lady of Granada, 
against whom nothing could be said. 

''How long has she lived in Granada r' asked 
the saint. 

She replied that the lady was born in the 
place and never had been half a lea^gue away 
from it all her life. 

''How old is the child?'' asked the saint. 

The woman answered, "About twelve 
months." 

"It is a great miracle, for I have not been a 
year in Granada yet, and in the whole course 



132 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERINGS 

of my life have never been within many leagues 
of it.'^ 

The people who had gathered round laughed 
and then hooted the woman, and the man of 
God went on his way perfectly undisturbed. 

At this time, in addition to the government 
of his own house and the care of many penitents 
who came to him, he had to watch over and en- 
courage the nuns in the new foundation, which 
began, as usual, in complete poverty. After 
waiting for seven months, the nuns found a 
house. In the meantime more than two hun- 
dred persons sought admission into the com- 
munity. In all that number, however. Ana of 
Jesus says in her account of the foundation, 
there was not one whom she could accept. Some 
of them she refused at once, and others she 
recommended to study their way of life. She 
accepted six novices at last, whom St. John of 
the Cross instructed in the way of prayer and 
perfect detachment from all created things. 



OF SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS 133 



CHAPTER TWENTY-FIEST 

The Chaptek of Almodovae. The Saint Op- 
poses THE Re-ElECTIOX OP THE PeIOES. 

Famine in Geanada. Weitings of the 
Saint. Foundation of Malaga. RESTOPtA- 
TioN OF A Nun to Health. Maey of Cheist. 

At Almodovar, May, 1583, St. John of the 
Cross, prior of Granada, was present at the pro- 
vincial chapter. After having elected the four 
definitors, they discussed the election of the 
priors. St. John of the Cross wished the elec- 
tion to be made in the monasteries and not in 
the provincial chapter, but the chapter decided 
against him and elected him once more prior of 
Granada. 

The saint not only objected and disapproved 
of the election of priors in the general chapter, 
but further pressed the fathers to change the 
practice of re-election, saying it was not good 
to continue the same persons in office, the effect 
being to make men ambitious and fond of power. 
He begged them to allow at least an interval 
during which the priors might remain subject, 
which would be profitable to them and highly 
advantageous to the order ; for thus there would 
be more men fitted to be priors by their experi- 
ence in government. Many of the fathers were 



134 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERING'S 

of this opinion, but the greater number tbonght 
otherwise and the practice of re-election was 
continued. 

The year of 1584 was a year of sore distress 
and famine in Spain, especially in Andalusia. 
The people from the country round flocked into 
Granada asking for bread. St. John, like his 
master, had compassion on the hungry multi- 
tude and, though living upon alms himself with 
a large household to maintain, gave alms abund- 
antly out of his poverty. In the first place he 
employed as many as he could in building the 
monastery, which he carried on during the fam- 
ine. With money he received from charitable 
people, he bought all the grain he could and 
charged the porter at the gate to distribute 
it to the poor and never to send any one empty 
away. The more he relieved, the more came 
from all quarters of the city for relief, and at 
last many even of the noble families confided to 
the saint their state of helpless destitution. St. 
John's heart was full of tenderness for those 
who were ashamed to beg. He therefore re- 
lieved and maintained them by means of two 
lay brothers whom he sent out to them with the 
necessary supplies. 

Though he ministered to the wants of so 
many, he did not neglect his friars. He pro- 
vided for them as if there had been no famine 
in the country, while to human eyes all the re- 



OF SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS 135 

sources of the house were at the service of the 
multitudinous poor who, but for his help and 
trust in God, would have died of hunger in the 
streets. 

'The great meekness of the saint was tested 
in this convent of Granada. He had to correct 
one of the friars for some fault or other, and 
did so in his accustomed way, very seriously 
but very tenderly. The poor friar utterly for- 
got himself and, instead of receiving his cor- 
rection meekly, burst out in angry language and 
reviled his superior. The servant of God did 
not check him but threw himself on the ground 
and remained prostrate while the friar's anger 
lasted. Then, rising, he said, **For the love of 
God," and went his way. The friar's eyes 
were opened. He followed and threw himself 
at his father's feet, confessing his wrong and 
thanking him for having so much patience and 
charity with him. 

St. John was gifted with supernatural light 
to understand the consciences of his penitents. 
This was not limited by distance. From his 
convent in Granada the holy father saw Mother 
Ana of St. Albert in Caravaca in greatest 
trouble on account of some scruples which tor- 
mented her. She made up her mind to write 
to the saint and when she was about to do it, 
she received a letter from him in which he an- 
swered all her doubts and delivered her from 



136 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SXJFFERINGS 

her affiction. The nuns of Granada were con- 
vinced that he saw their hearts and that in the 
retirement of his cell he registered all that was 
happening in their souls. They were according- 
ly very careful in all their actions, not daring 
to he negligent in the smallest thought, believing 
that everything was visible to their spiritual 
father. 

Among the many souls whom he directed to 
the highest perfection and many others whom 
he drew from their sinful life, was a man in 
Granada possessed by the devil. Many exor- 
cisms and prayers had been in vain. The rela- 
tives called the saint and requested him to take 
the case in his hand. Our Lord had given him 
light to know devils, the license they had from 
His Majesty to torment bodies, and the means 
of casting them away. Owing to his superior 
knowledge of these things, when he saw this 
wretched man he understood at once that he 
was one of those of whom our Lord said that 
they could not be exorcised except by prayer 
and fasting. Therefore he began to pray and 
asked all those present to do the same. The 
devil, seeing our Elias in prayer, understood 
that he would be conquered and, angry against 
his enemy, broke out into injurious expressions. 
He tried to distract the saint's prayer with 
violent howling, but the saint continued and 
after some time rose, saying, *^Now the Lord 



OF SAINT JOHN OP THE CROSS 137 

has given ns victory against this enemy. There 
is nothing to fear.'^ 

And it was so, for, having commanded the 
devil to get out of the man, he immediately 
obeyed and all the people admired the power of 
the saint. 

Leaving aside many other cases, only one other 
is added here, for the sake of the instrnction 
it contains. While St. John of the Cross was 
hearing confessions in the church, a very spirit- 
ual person who was praying nearby saw that 
in a corner of the chnrch there were many devils 
in different forms, lions, tigers, toads and veno- 
mous reptiles, tempting persons with the variety 
of temptations which their figures represented. 
But the person noticed that when the saint 
raised his eyes and looked towards that corner 
they all ran away to hide themselves. She 
understood from this that there is not any 
place where evil spirits cannot tempt ; and that 
St. John of the Cross was master of the devils, 
for they feared even the glance of his eye. 

St. John was at this time writing his expla- 
nation of the spiritual canticle Adonde Te Es- 
condiste, which he composed in the prison of 
Toledo. We owe this book to the Venerable 
Anne of Jesus, whose importunities overcame 
the saint's reluctance to write. The book was 
dedicated to her and is now religiously kept 
by the nuns of Jaen. At the same time and at 



138 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERINGS 

the urgent request of Ms penitent, Dona Ana de 
Penasola, lie was writing the explanation of 
another hymn of his, perhaps the most wonder- 
ful of them all. Llama de Amor Viva. He 
yielded to the request of Dona Ana with great 
unwillingness, because the hymn is of matters 
so interior and spiritual as to be beyond the 
compass of human speech. 

He always wrote after earnest prayer, with- 
out help from any book whatever, and very 
slowly, lest he should be carried away and his 
work become the expression of mere human 
wisdom, rather than of the Holy Ghost, whose 
work is never hurried. 

In December of this year 1584 the provincial, 
Fra Jerome of the Mother of God, sanctioned 
the foundation of a monastery of nuns in 
Malaga. Fra Jerome could not go himself to 
Malaga, so he sent St. John of the Cross, who 
was at the time vicar-provincial of Andalusia 
as well as prior of Granada. When the order 
of the provincial was brought to the saint, he 
was attending Sister Isabel of the Incarnation 
in her last illness. The servant of God was 
therefore troubled at having to leave his peni- 
tent in the hour of her great distress. He be- 
took himself to prayer and while he was praying 
they called him to the sick nun whom the physi- 
cian believed to be at the point of death. The 
saint went to her at once and gave her the last 



OF SAINT JOHN OP THE CROSS 139 

sacraments. But suddenly, inspired by God, lie 
began to read the gospel of St. Mark and when 
lie came to the words, * ' Upon the sick they shall 
lay their hands'' he laid his hands on the sister 
who was in her agony and the sickness departed 
from her. The next day she left her bed. The 
physicians declared her healing was miraculous. 

St. John set out at once on his journey to 
Malaga with the nuns who were to be the found- 
ers of the house there. Mary of Christ, prior- 
ess of the new foundation, had a grievous fall 
which rendered her unconscious. The nuns 
with her began to bemoan her death, for the 
blood flowed abundantly from her head, while 
she gave no signs of life. The servant of God 
came up to them and laid his hand on the 
wound. The sister rose and went on her way 
with the others as if no accident had happened. 

They arrived in Malaga and on the seven- 
teenth of February, 1585, the new monastery 
was founded under the patronage of St. Joseph. 
St. John of the Cross said the first mass. 



140 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERINGS 



CHAPTEE TWENTY-SECOND 

The Chaptek of Lisboit. The Sain^t is Made 
Vicae-Peovincial of Andalusia. His Hu- 
mility AND Modesty. 

Our holy father was still prior of Granada 
when the third chapter of the order was con- 
vened at Lisbon, 11 May, 1585. Era Nicolas of 
Jesns Maria was elected second provincial of 
the order. Among the four newly elected de- 
finitors, the second was our holy father. The 
absence of the new provincial in Genoa, where 
he had gone to found a house, made it impos- 
sible for the fathers of the chapter to discuss 
the affairs of the order. 

During his journey back to Granada, St. John 
was overtaken by the darkness of night on a 
rough and precipitous road. The ass on which 
he was riding stumbled in a most dangerous 
spot and the saint was thrown off. He began 
rolling down the steep hill-side towards a preci- 
pice where he must have been killed. Just 
before the fatal fall he felt himself held by a 
hand which offered him a piece of cloth. He 
seized it and by it was drawn back. Anne of 
Jesus saw in a trance the danger of the saint 
and prayed earnestly for him. On his return 
to Granada, the venerable mother asked him 



OF SAINT JOHN OP THE CROSS 141 

what had happened to him at such an hour and 
on such a day. He told her and added, ^^It was 
you, then, my mother, who came to my relief.'' 

As soon as Fra Nicolas returned from Ge- 
noa, he reassembled the chapter in Pastrana, 
17 October, 1585. The chapter divided the 
province into four vicariates to be governed 
by the four definitors elected in Lisbon. That 
of Andalusia was given to St. John of the Cross. 
The vicars had more authority now than they 
had under Fra Jerome because they were ap- 
pointed by the chapter of the order, whereas 
the vicars of Fra Jerome were merely his dele- 
gates and remained in office only so long as it 
pleased him to retain them. 

The saint returned from the chapter of Pas- 
trana to Granada charged with the care of 
thirteen monasteries, seven of men and six of 
women. These he visited regularly and dili- 
gently, inquiring into everything most minutely 
and correcting with all charity everything he 
found amiss. It was impossible to resist him, 
for he lived in every house he visited as the 
least of his brethren, sitting in the lowest place, 
and taking his proper place at the head of 
the others only in the public duties of the 
house and choir. He never allowed his friars 
to minister to him apart from the others and 
he was always with the community as a member 
of the household. He went over the whole of 



142 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERINGS 

the monastery, never leaving anything nnvis- 
ited. He was specially attentive to the sick. 
He did the work of the house while in it as if he 
were a member of it, waited at the table in the 
refectory, heard confessions and preached. A 
stranger could not have distinguished the vicar- 
provincial from the other friars of the house. 

His perfect humility moved the hearts of 
men. He had no difficulty in commanding. The 
most stubborn lacked courage to resist him, 
seeing one in his high office so detached from 
self. If some who had begun to like ease mur- 
mured against his austerity, they were soon 
silenced, for none could withstand a provincial 
who read in the refectory, made the beds of the 
sick in the infirmary, washed the feet of the 
guests and went to the garden with the novices 
to dig. 

While travelling from one monastery to the 
other he never went out of his way to see any- 
thing for the sake of curiosity. Continually in 
the presence of God, he was either silent in 
prayer or conversing with his companion of 
heavenly things. Sometimes, like St. Wulstan 
of Worcester, he would chant the psalms aloud. 
On arriving at a monastery he went straight to 
the church to pray before the most holy sacra- 
ment, and then to the infirmary to see the sick, 
if there were any. One night he arrived at a 
house very late, after compline, when the law 



OF SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS 143 

of silence prevails. The prior and all the re- 
ligious rose to receive him and, making manifest 
their joy at seeing him, broke the silence. He 
looked reproachfully at them and went straight 
to his cell without uttering a word. 

About this time he received a visit in Granada 
from a provincial of another order, a man of 
great consideration on account of his office an-d 
distinguished birth. The servant of God was 
obliged for grave reasons to depart from his 
usual habit and return the provincial's visit. 
After some conversation the latter asked the 
saint how he liked the monastery, which was 
outside the city. 

*'Well enough, '^ answered the servant of God, 
**for it is a lonely place, and I like the solitude. '' 

The provincial said, ^^Your reverence must 
be the son of a farmer to like the country so 
much. ' ' 

In his tone there was a hint of contempt. 

*^Ah, most reverend father, I am not so great 
as that,'' the servant of God replied, ^*my 
father was a poor weaver." 

He was a true child of St. Teresa who, when 
she heard that Fra Jerome of the Mother of 
God had been searching into her pedigree in 
Avila, said to him, with some displeasure, that 
it was enough for her to be a child of the church 
and it distressed her to think of falling into one 
venial sin more than the thought of being the 



144 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERINGS 

daughter of the lowest of the low. Fra Diego 
of the Most Holy Sacrament, who was present 
at the time the provincial indulged his vanity 
at the expense of St. John of the Cross, said 
that all who heard the conversation looked at 
one another with amazement. They were pained 
at the vanity of the provincial, who had left the 
world, and wondered at the humility of the poor 
Carmelite. 

On another occasion some of his friars told 
some people with whom they were conversing 
that St. John of the Cross had been prior of a 
certain monastery; but he, overhearing the 
words, turned round and said, *^I was also cook 
there. ' ' 

God gave him light to discharge his duties 
in a very wonderful way, in reward of his great 
diligence. On his return from one of his visita- 
tions he found Fra Alonso of the Mother of 
God, the master of novices in Granada, in 
great distress of mind. Fra Alonso was so 
overcome by spiritual dryness and interior 
darkness that he did not know what to do. He 
laid bare the state of his soul to the saint. The 
servant of God, when he had heard his story, 
smiled and said, 

^ ^ Go, you silly one ! All that is nothing. ' ' 

Fra Alonso went his way, with his mind per- 
fectly at rest. 

Two novices had been received in the house 
during his absence. One was a priest and the 



OF SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS 145 

other a deacon. The servant of God went to see 
them in the novitiate and on coming out told 
the master that the deacon would give them 
much trouble and at last leave the order. The 
prophecy was fulfilled in due time, for the 
friars found that it was necessary to take the 
habit from him and send him away. 



146 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERINGS 



CHAPTER TWENTY-THIED 

Foundation in Segovia. The Saint in Caea- 
VACA. Visits Penuela. Foundation of 
CoEDOVA. Visits Seville. Mieaculous Es- 
cape. Fea Maetin and the Novices. 

Dona Ana de Mercado y Penasola, a penitent 
of the saint, in order to fulfill the testamentary 
dispositions of her husband, Don Juan de Gue- 
vara, sought St. John's advice and offered to 
found a monastery of the friars of Carmel in 
Segovia. St. John, as provincial, accepted the 
foundation and ordered Fra Gregorio of Na- 
zianzum to establish the house. Fra Gregorio 
executed his commission and took possession 3. 
Mayrl586. 

Meanwhile the servant of God was on visita- 
tion at Caravaca where a saintly penitent of 
his, Mother Anne of St. Albert, was prioress. 
Mother Anne spoke to him of the loss to the 
community because there were no friars of 
Carmel in Caravaca. 

The servant of God replied, ^*Why do you 
not bring themT' 

Mother Anne smiled, for she knew how diffi- 
cult it was, and how much beyond her strength. 
St. John then bade her be of good courage and 
pray to our Lord and make the community also 



OF SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS 147 

pray, promising to do the same himself. He 
knew the time was come for the fulfillment of a 
revelation he had received when prior of Baeza 
that a monastery of friars was to be founded 
in Caravaca. 

He then left the mother prioress and, having 
vested himself, went to say mass. As soon as 
he ascended the steps of the altar the prioress 
saw a light round the servant of God which be- 
came more and more brilliant as he went on 
with the mass. At first it seemed to come out 
of the tabernacle. After the consecration it 
emanated from the sacred host, and the priest 
in the midst of the light seemed to shine as a 
most clear sun. The mass lasted very long, but 
it was a wonderful joy to all the nuns, whose 
eyes were fountains of sweet tears. 

When the servant of God had finished his 
thanksgiving he was called to the confessional, 
where he found the mother prioress waiting for 
him. 

^' Father,'^ she asked, ^^why was the mass so 
longr' 

The servant of God asked her how long it 
had lasted. 

^^When we taste divine things a long time 
seems but short,'' the prioress said. ^^ Perhaps 
you had a vision." 

**I saw," replied the saint, ^^what you too 
have been allowed to see." 



148 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERINGS 

**I should like to know what you saw," the 
prioress said, ^^for what I saw must have been 
very little. At least it hindered you in the say- 
ing of the mass, for you were a long time at the 
altar." 

^^So it was, child," said the saint, and then 
there was a silence, for he fell into a trance; 
But when he returned to himself, he said, ' ^ God 
showed great things to me, a sinner, and that 
in such majesty that I was unable to go on." 

The mother prioress still insisted and asked 
for more information. 

Then the saint, overcome with her impor- 
tunity, said, ^^My soul is now so full of heavenly 
consolations that I dare not be alone and recol- 
lected. They are too much for my strength. 
Now and then I refrain from saying mass, for 
I am afraid something marvellous will take 
place. I have asked our Lord to give me more 
strength, or to take me away, but that will not 
be while I have the care of souls. ' ' 

The servant of God had asked that he might 
not die while holding any office in the order and 
he believed that his prayer was heard. 

About the middle of February of this year, 
1586, he left Caravaca for Penuela. He re- 
mained there during lent, going to Linares 
three times every week on foot to preach, re- 
turning^in the same way, not accepting any food 
while in the city. 



OF SAINT JOHN OP THE CROSS 149 

From Penuela he went to Cordova, where a 
house was offered to him for a monastery. He 
gladly took possession of it, 18 May, 1586, the 
Sunday after the Ascension. Having placed it 
under the care of his novice in Pastrana, Fra 
Augustine of the Kings, he went to Seville. 
There he found the fathers were too often and 
too long out of the convent, specially during 
lent and advent. The excuse for this was 
preaching; but the servant of God would not 
accept it. He ordered matters otherwise. The 
rule he made is the ground-work of that which 
was afterwards embodied in the constitutions 
of the order. 

The nuns of Seville had been in an unsuitable 
place. St. Teresa herself had not been able to 
find a house for them according to her desires. 
But now they acquired a better house and the 
vicar of the province settled them in their new 
dwelling. 

From Seville the saint returned to Cordova 
to see the progress of the new foundation, 
which was very great ; for which he gave thanks 
to God. The friars were held in great rever- 
ence by the people. But he, in the clearness of 
vision which humility gives, detected a spirit 
among his brethren which he hated with his 
whole heart. They wished to stand well with 
the world for the greater glory of God. One 
day a friar in his sermon spoke of the gratitude 



150 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERINGS 

of the community to the people of Cordova for 
their generous support of the monastery. His 
language was oratorical and somewhat exag- 
gerated. It brought down upon himself and the 
whole house the sharp reprehensions of the 
saint. He was full of gratitude to all men who 
rendered the slightest service. Nevertheless he 
spoke with severity to the friars and charged 
them not to say anything of the affairs of the 
house when preaching the word of God. In 
doing so they would probably be praising them- 
selves indirectly and that must be avoided, 
especially among the religious of Carmel. 

At this time there were workmen busy in the 
monastery. Among other tasks, they had to 
throw down a wall in order to build the new 
church. They had planned to throw it down 
without injury to the house but they made a 
mistake and the whole mass fell on the cell of 
St. John of the Cross. He was in it at the time. 
Everybody believed he was crushed to death. 
The fallen mass was cleared away in the utmost 
haste ; but all were without hope of seeing him 
alive. To their amazement and joy they found 
him standing in a corner of the cell. He had 
not even been touched. He came forth smiling 
and unhurt. For a moment their joy was so 
great they could not speak. Then they asked 
him how it was he had escaped, and he simply 
replied, 



OF SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS 151 

*^She of the white mantle covered me with 
it.'' 

And all understood that onr Lady had been 
there to save him. 

"When the wonderful escape of the servant of 
God became known in the city and in the coun- 
try round about, a great many people came to 
the monastery begging to be received into the 
order. Of these the saint accepted nine, two 
for the house of Cordova, and the others for 
Seville. 

As the two whom he kept in Cordova were the 
poorest in worldly goods, some of the fathers 
begged him to change them for others who 
could be of service to their house, seeing that 
the community of Seville was not so poor as 
they. Cordova, indeed, was then in great dis- 
tress. The man of God was not moved by their 
reasons. He told them he had deliberately 
chosen the poorest novices for the purpose of 
founding the house more securely, keeping out 
of it all human considerations whatsoever. 

Thus the two poorest novices were kept and 
the other seven sent to Seville. The saint or- 
dered Fra Martin of the Assumption and a lay 
brother to take them thither, giving them noth- 
ing but a sorry mule to carry their clothes. Fra 
Martin, though not unused to the ways of the 
saint, was very much alarmed, for he was start- 
ing on a long journey without any money. He 



152 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERING'S 

was afraid, he said, that the novices might faint 
by the way. 

The saint smiled and said, ^^Go, my son; our 
Lord has made everything ready. Yon will 
want nothing, and none of the novices will faint 
by the way. They will reach Seville sound and 
fervent. ' ' 

Fra Martin was a true religions. He obeyed 
at once and set ont with the seven novices with- 
out a penny to defray their expenses on the 
road. In every place through which he passed 
he found nothing but kindness. People even 
pressed alms upon him. He arrived in Seville 
without any inconvenience but heartily ashamed 
of himself for his want of faith. The novices 
too were in perfect health of mind and body. 
On his return he presented himself to the saint 
to give an account of his journey and return to 
him the money which remained in his hands out 
of the alms he received on the way. He had left 
Cordova in doubt, without a penny, and he had 
now, to his own shame and confusion, more than 
seven pounds in his purse. The saint told him 
to give the money to the procurator of the 
house, adding, 

**I would rather you had suffered want and 
wrong for the love of God who provided for 
you so well. Thus you would have come back 
to me a greater saint." 



OF SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS 153 



CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUETH 

The Saint Summoned by the Provincial to 
Madeid. He Takes Anne to Madrid. Mira- 
cles. BUJALANCE. CaRAVACA. 

Summoned by the provincial to Madrid to 
meet the other vicars, IR August, 1586, St. John 
of the Cross fell ill on the way, at Toledo, and 
was therefore unable to attend. When he had 
recovered his strength he traveled homeward. 
Near Cordova he went aside to rest himself in 
a wood, retiring into it a good way and leaving 
his companion behind. After some time the 
friar went in quest of the servant of God and, 
searching for him among the trees, saw him 
raised in the air high above the ground, lost in 
prayer. 

Soon after St. John's return to Granada he 
received orders from his superior. Era Nicolas 
of Jesus Maria, to bring Anne of Jesus, pri- 
oress of Granada, to Madrid, where she was to 
become prioress of a new monastery for which 
the archbishop of Toledo had given permission. 
They set out from Granada in the latter part 
of August. The river Guadiana was swollen. 
When crossing a ford the carriage in which the 
nuns rode was nearly overturned. The saint, 



154 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERINGS 

with the ass lie rode, was borne across on the 
surface of the torrent and on the other side of 
the river the nnns were amazed when they saw 
him and the poor ass perfectly dry. The water 
had not touched them. 

When they had nearly ended their long 
journey, and had come within two leagues of 
Madrid, they heard that a great number of dis- 
tinguished persons were coming to meet them. 
St. John of the Cross wished to enter the city 
unperceived and without noise, so he and Anne 
of Jesus agreed to stop on the road and thereby 
avoid so public a reception. They waited till 
the evening but the roads were bad and night 
overtook them long before they came to the 
gates of Madrid. Thus unexpectedly benighted 
they did not know how to advance, when sud- 
denly they found themselves in the midst of a 
brilliant light, more brilliant than the light of 
the sun, which accompanied them till they came 
to the city, between nine and ten o'clock, 9 
September, 1586. 

The provincial was there to receive them. 
From him the servant of God obtained leave to 
found a monastery in Mancha Eeal. Then, 
having done all his obedience in Madrid, he 
made haste to reach Mancha Eeal, where he 
took possession of the house, 12 October. High 
mass was sung by the archdeacon of Ubeda, 
who gave the house; the deacon was one of his 



OF SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS 165 

nephews, a canon of Toledo, and the sub-deacon 
was St. John of the Cross. 

During one of his many journeys to Mancha 
Eeal, St. John was accompanied by Fra Martin 
of the Assumption and Fra Pedro of St. Mary, 
a lay brother. In going down the road from 
Porcuna towards the river, Fra Pedro broke his 
leg. He was somewhat in advance of the two 
fathers and when the saint and Fra Martin 
came up to him they found him in sharp pain, 
for the shin-bone was broken in two. Fra Mar- 
tin held the leg and St. John of the Cross, wet- 
ting a piece of cloth in his mouth, bound the 
limb. Then, having put the poor brother on a 
mule, they led it, one on each side, supporting 
Fra Pedro as well as they could till they came 
to an inn. There the saint promised to find 
some relief for him. Having stopped the mule, 
the fathers said they would help Fra Pedro to 
dismount that he might be spared all further 
pain. 

**Pain,'' said Fra Pedro, *'I feel no pain!'^ 
and, leaping to the ground, he danced before 
the saint in the fulness of his joy. 

Fra Martin, seeing that the broken limb was 
not only set but healed, cried out, **A miracle, 
a manifest miracle!'' 

^^Hush," said the saint, ^^What do these peo- 
ple here know about miracles?" 



156 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERINGS 

He charged the two friars, under pain of dis- 
obedience, to hold their tongues and keep secret 
all they had seen. 

During his stay in Mancha Eeal two women 
possessed by the devil were brought to him. 
One was married. He refused to exorcise her 
and said to those who had brought her that it 
was not necessary to do so ; her deliverance was 
nigh at hand. They, believing him, went away 
and not long after saw the prophecy of the 
saint fulfilled. The other was unmarried and 
he said that the priests who had begun the exor- 
cisms would work her cure ; and so it happened. 

Fra Jerome of the Mother of God had ac- 
cepted a monastery in Gualcazar of which the 
frairs took possession 24 March, 1585. But for 
some reason the deeds concerning the founda- 
tion had not yet been formally delivered. St. 
John of the Cross now, by order of the provin- 
cial, went thither to secure the deeds. The 
founders received him with great joy and all 
the difficulties feared by the friars were over- 
come without any trouble. 

While there the servant of God was attacked 
by a most severe pain in his side and the physi- 
cian who came to his relief said he could not 
recover. The saint, hearing this, said to Fra 
Martin who was with him, *'The hour of death 
is come to me; I shall, however, have much to 
suffer in this illness, for the stone is not yet 
sufficiently polished.'' 



OF SAINT JOHN OP THE CROSS 157 

The physician ordered a certain ointment to 
be prepared and Fra Martin brought it to the 
saint so quickly that he had no time to prepare 
himself for it by removing and hiding the in- 
struments of penance which he continually 
wore. Fra Martin began to apply it to his side 
and then discovered an iron chain round the 
body of the saint. But he could see only parts 
of it, for the flesh covered the rest. He tried 
to take it away and, in removing it, tore the 
flesh. Blood flowed abundantly from the wound. 
The saint suffered sharp pains during the oper- 
ation of the father but it was nothing in com- 
parison with the pain and shame he felt at the 
discovery of his penance. Every link of the 
chain had two sharp points which lacerated the 
flesh at every movement of his body. St. John 
confessed to this faithful companion that he 
had worn it for the last seven years, day and 
night. Fra Martin kept the chain as a precious 
relic and, after the death of the saint, God 
wrought miracles by it. 

About this time he was travelling with Fra 
Pedro of the Mother of God when his further 
course was stopped by the overflowing of a 
river whose ford had become dangerous. Many 
people were there before him waiting for the 
river to fall and he proposed to wait with them. 
But he heard an inward voice calling him away. 
He asked the brother to stay where he was. He 



158 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERINGS 

said he would cross notwithstanding the rush of 
the waters. In midstream the feet of the mule 
were entangled in some drift-wood and both he 
and the mule sank beneath the surface. The 
people cried aloud for help but no human help 
was possible. St. John took recourse to his 
unfailing protectress. The amazed people saw 
him rise and make his way to the opposite bank. 
The mule too escaped; and the saint, having 
mounted it, hurried on to an inn on the road 
leading from Vaena to Jaen. 

In the inn was a man dying of wounds given 
him by the son of the inn-keeper. The saint went 
to him at once and heard his confession. He 
remained with him for two hours and helped 
him to make a good Christian death. 

Towards the end of November of this year 
1586 he went to Bujalance to make arrange- 
ments for the foundation of a monastery. On 
the road he said to Fra Martin, 

^*What would your reverence do if we were 
now travelling among infidels and they were 
to set upon us and beat us T ^ 

'^Bear it patiently, I hope, b^^ the grace of 
God, ' ' was the answer of Fra Martin. 

^'Bear it patiently?'' replied the saint, with 
holy indignation, ^4s that your way? Why not 
desire it and even beg to be cut to pieces for 
the love of God?" 

In Bujalance St. John received an order from 
the provincial to go to Madrid. It was late at 



OF SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS 159 

night, but the saint made preparations at once 
to set out early the next morning. The season 
was cold. Eain was falling after a heavy snow. 
His companion and the inn-keeper labored to 
persuade him to delay his journey till the 
weather grew better. He would not listen to 
their entreaties, saying he could ill expect his 
religious to obey him if he was disobedient 
himself. Before dawn the next morning he was 
on his way to Madrid. 

Before he left Bujalance he commissioned Fra 
Diego of the Conception to make the founda- 
tion in Caravaca concerning which the Mother 
Anne of St. Albert had spoken to him in the 
beginning of this year. Fra Diego took posses- 
sion of the house 18 December, 1586. 



160 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERINGS 



CHAPTER TWENTY-FIFTH 

MiEAouLous Light. The Chapter of Valla- 
DOLiD. Election of the Sai^^t as Prior of 
Granada. Picture of the Saint. He Fore- 
tells THE Canonization of St. Teresa. 

The servant of God remained in Madrid till 
the beginning of March, 1587, when he went to 
Caravaca to preside at the election of a prioress 
in the place of Mother Anne of St. Albert. On 
the day of the election he said mass in the 
church of the monastery. While he was at the 
altar the nuns saw a wonderful light around 
him. Two of them, who were nearest to the 
grating, thought the light came from the taber- 
nacle, and one of these two, doubting the reality 
of the vision, went to another grating nearer 
the altar, and there saw the same vision. 

'This nun had not been able to decide for 
whom she should vote in the chapter and was in 
great perplexity and distress of mind. But, as 
she was looking on and marvelling at the 
heavenly light, she heard an inward voice bid- 
ding her to do what the saint should suggest to 
her. After mass she went to him and told him 
how much she was troubled about the election 
and he told her what she was to do. All her 
scruples and anxieties vanished in a moment 



OF SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS 161 

and she was conscious of a great interior peace. 

When the nnns were assembled in chapter for 
the election, the servant of God came in and 
preached to them for some time. They saw 
again the wondrous light which they had seen 
during mass. The whole choir was flooded with 
it and the nuns were filled with a wonderful joy. 
Then the election was made in great peace and 
when all was over the saint said to them, 

** Children, may God reward you! And I 
thank you, for you have done according to his 
will.'' 

One of the nuns, Barbara of the Holy Ghost, 
suffered much from inward unrest, but she kept 
her secret and never spoke to any one of her 
trouble. The saint sent for her a few days 
after the election and said, 

^ ^ Child, why do you hide your sorrows ? But 
as you are silent yourself, I will tell them. ' ' 

He told her all her troubles and bade her be 
of good courage because all would end well and 
her soul would be in peace. The prophecy was 
fulfilled to the letter. 

From Caravaca he went to Valladolid, sum- 
moned thither by the provincial. There, 7 
April, the definitors, of whom he was one, met 
and transacted certain business in preparation 
for the assembling of the provincial chapter 
which was held on Friday the seventeenth. 

When St. John of the Cross was released 
from his duties as vicar of Andalusia he hoped 



162 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERINGS 

to be allowed to live under obedience, undis- 
tinguished among Ms brethren. It was not yet 
so to be. He was forthwith elected prior of 
Granada. When he learned the choice of the 
chapter he fell on his knees before the assem- 
bled fathers and begged his brethren to have 
pity on him and suffer him to attend to his own 
soul without the charge of the souls of others. 
He wept in the soreness of his distress, but the 
tears of the wearied saint did not move his 
brethren. He was compelled to accept the pri- 
orate, and so, with a heavy heart, went back to 
Granada, to the great joy of the friars and of 
the nuns who were there. 

Eelieved from the burden of making visita- 
tion of the province, he gave himself up solely 
to work in the monastery, in which he was now 
prior for the third time. He finished building 
the house, supplied it with water, planted a 
vineyard, and made it a pattern of all the 
houses of the order. In the whole of Spain 
there was not another to surpass it in its fitness 
and convenience. He himself labored with his 
own hands, mixed the mortar and laid the 
bricks, choosing for himself what the workmen 
regarded as the least honorable part of their 
duty. He sent to Medina for his brother, Fran- 
cis de Yepes, and employed him as a laborer. 
Whenever any of the great personages of Gra- 
nada came to the monastery to visit the prior 



OF SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS 163 

he never failed to show them his brother at 
his work, or, if that could not be done, he would 
find some excuse to bring him into the room 
where he would speak of him as the person 
most dear to him upon earth. 

Some friends of the saint desired to have a 
picture of his and begged the friars to help 
them to obtain it. The friars knew too well 
that he would never consent to their wishes, so 
they resolved to take his picture by stealth. 
That was easy enough. They brought the 
painter to his cell when he was in a trance and 
in that way the work was done. Some time 
afterwards the saint found out what had been 
done and was greatly hurt and grieved; with 
the friars he was even angry. 

In the processes of his canonization it was 
deposed that he had been three times disturbed. 
This was one of them. Another was when con- 
versation fell upon what he and Fra Antonio 
had done for the order in Duruelo. The third 
time was in his last illness when the surgeon 
punctured his foot to obtain some relief for 
him. One of the punctures was in that part of 
the foot which was pierced by the nail of the 
crucifixion. The friar who waited on him said 
our Lord had admitted him to share in his suf- 
ferings, of which the wound in the foot was an 
outward sign. The holy man, whose humility 
never slumbered, became angry ; for he thought 
the friar was comparing him with St. Francis. 



164 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERINGS 

If the servant of God, in his humility, tried 
to hide the sanctity of his life from the eyes of 
men, God himself willed to make it manifest 
from time to time. One day a great personage 
in Granada, who did not know the saint but had 
heard much of him, resolved to put the popular 
rumor to test. He went to him and laid before 
him the state of his own soul. He learned so 
much in that conversation, and beheld so much 
grace in the servant of God, that he was after- 
wards wont to say, ^*0h, what treasures God 
has laid up in that man ! I had heard much of 
him, but what I had heard is as nothing com- 
pared to what I now know ! ' ' 

The nuns in the monasteries he visited gath- 
ered the fragments of his food and treasured 
them as something divinely touched. 

One of the friars persuaded him to give up 
his habit, now worn threadbare, and put on an- 
other which was new. The prior consented and 
the friar, out of devotion, put on the discarded 
habit himself. But it brought down upon him 
the censures of his brethren. They said he 
carried perfumes about his person. He de- 
fended himself as well as he could and con- 
tinued to wear the habit. At last the friars 
ascertained the cause of the strange fragrance 
and thus came to realize that whatever touched 
the lacerated flesh of the saintly prior gave 
forth a delicious smell. 



OP SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS 165 

He foretold the canonization of St. Teresa at 
this time, before any steps had been taken in 
the order or elsewhere for that end. It hap- 
pened in this way: In March, 1588, during 
recreation in the monastery of Granada, Fra 
Juan of the Holy Angels said he had dreamed 
the night before that they were keeping the 
feast of their holy mother and that they had 
sung the divine office in her honor. He was 
laughing at himself and his dream, but the prior 
spoke seriously to him and begged him not to 
make that a matter of mirth. He said he would 
see his dream fulfilled before he died. Fra 
Juan was no longer a young man and gave little 
heed to the words of the prior, but he lived to 
be an older man and saw not only the beatifica- 
tion but also the canonization of St. 'Teresa, in 
the year 1622. 



166 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERINGS 



CHAPTER TWENTY-SIXTH 

The Fiest Geiteeal Chaptee of the Refoem. 
St. John of the Ceoss Made Fiest Con- 

SULTOE AN^D PeIOE OF SeGOVIA. DeATH 

OF Catheeine Alvarez. Austeeities and 
Peayee of the Saint. The Mysteeiotjs 
Dove. 

In June, 1588, St. John of the Cross, obeying 
the summons of the provincial, was present at 
the chapter held in Madrid. A great change 
was there made in the order. His Holiness 
Sixtus V had sanctioned a further separation 
of the friars of the reform from the friars of 
the mitigated observance. The brief of the 
Pope, dated 10 July, 1587, was brought to Spain 
the same year and notice of it was given to the 
provincial by the nuncio. The provincial then 
called the definitors together and laid before 
them a copy of the brief. They all agreed that 
a chapter of the province should be held for 
the formal acceptance and publication of it and 
accordingly the chapter was summoned to meet 
in Madrid 10 June, 1588. 

After reading the Papal brief the chapter 
proceeded to put it in execution. There were 
to be six consultors. Of this number the first 
chosen was St. John of the Cross who was also 



OF SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS 167 

elected prior of the house in Segovia founded 
by his penitent, Dona Ana de Penasola. As it 
was judged inexpedient that the consultors 
should sit in Madrid, lest the court should in- 
terfere with them and influence their resolu- 
tions, Segovia was made the seat of the council. 
St. John of the Cross was to be its president in 
the absence of the vicar-general. 

He went to Segovia in the beginning of 
August and began his work by rebuilding the 
monastery in a more healthful spot. Although 
one of the chiefs of the order and the prior of 
the house, he was to be seen daily toiling among 
the workmen. His own cell was the poorest in 
the monastery, a small closet under the stair- 
case, dimly lighted, in which with difficulty 
could be found a place for his bed and none for 
a writing table. He had no books at any time 
in his cell except the breviary and the holy 
Scriptures. All his time not occupied in the 
business of the house was spent in the hollow 
of a rock in the garden. But he could not long 
remain there, the interruptions were so many 
and so continuous. People came in crowds to 
the monastery to see the prior. He never at 
any time refused to see them, but he would 
complain gently, to the father who called him, 
against these hindrances to prayer. He went 
with reluctance to converse with people who 
broke into his conversation with God. 



168 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERINGS 

Thougli thus continually devoted to prayer, 
he neglected nothing. As if to reward him and 
to supplement his seeming want of attention 
to business, God revealed to him the secrets of 
men's souls. 

One day he met two of his friars talking 
together and said to them, ^^Why think ye evil 
in your hearts?'* 

They defended themselves, but he reproved 
them sharply and told them they had been 
rashly judging one of their brethren; which 
was true. Another friar, tempted by satan, 
was about to leave the monastery one night 
when the others in the house were supposed to 
be asleep. He had made all his preparations 
and had even laid a ladder against the outer 
wall of the enclosure. The saint, who was 
awake in prayer, knowing by revelation from 
God what the friar was doing and intending to 
do, went to the cell of one of the fathers and 
begged him to go down into the garden and 
remove the ladder, but without speaking a word 
to any one, not even if he found another friar 
near the ladder. The father went down to the 
garden and found the poor friar there with one 
foot on the ladder, bent on going forth into the 
world he had left. But when he saw the father 
lay his hand on the ladder as if about to re- 
move it, and at the same time seeming not to 
recognize his presence, he felt that the father 



OF SAINT JOHN OP THE CROSS 169 

was there by order of the prior and that God 
had made his sin known to him. He entered 
into himself and, bitterly repenting of his evil 
imaginations, led a life of great penance after- 
wards and persevered in the order till his death. 

At this time the mother of the saint died in 
Medina del Campo, poor bnt not forgotten, be- 
cause St. Teresa had charged the nuns there to 
see that the mother of her first-bom son in 
Carmel should be provided with all that was 
needed. The nuns fulfilled with the utmost 
faithfulness the charge laid upon them by St. 
Teresa. When Catherine Alvarez died she was 
buried with the religious of the house. The 
monastery regarded the possession of her body 
as the endowment of a great treasure, so holy 
was her life and death. It does not appear the 
saint ever saw her after he said his first mass. 
When he heard of her death he summoned his 
brother to Segovia. The two brothers loved 
one another with a love passing the love of 
brothers, for each helped the other to love God 
more and more, and poverty above all earthly 
goods. Francis came. When the two brothers 
were speaking together about their mother they 
fell into a trance and saw her in a vision and 
heard her speak of the glory to which God had 
raised her. 

The servant of God had borne the heat of the 
day in his order, constantly employed in gov- 



170 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERINGS 

erning others, and was now longing more than 
ever for a little rest; but there was to be none 
for him, even when relieved from the burden 
of office. 

He spent so little time in sleep and treated 
his body with such extreme severity that his 
brethren feared for his life. Every night, be- 
fore matins and after, he would retire into the 
most lonely part of the house to take the disci- 
pline. But through the silence of the night 
the sound of the lash would reach the ears of 
the friars, who trembled when they heard it, 
knowing well how merciless he was to himself. 
They could not venture to interfere openly, for 
he was their superior. 'Therefore they had re- 
course to a little artifice, carrying a light to the 
neighborhood so that their father could be seen. 
They did this so often that at last he com- 
plained to his old friend and companion, Fra 
Martin of the Assumption. 

**I am not a child that cannot take care of 
itself," he said, *^why do they persecute me in 
this wayT' 

When the saint was living in Granada a dove 
of wonderful beauty and brilliant plumage, with 
a golden circle round its throat, was often seen 
hovering over his cell. Now in Segovia the peo- 
ple saw it again. It was silent, never cooing, a 
solitary bird never mingling with its kind, and 
generally near the cell of the saint or over it. 



OF SAINT JOHN OP THE CROSS 171 

The dove was visible not only to tlie friars but 
also to the seculars. It was a subject of con- 
versation among the friars that the mysterious 
dove followed the saint and remained with him 
wherever he might be. It disappeared from Se- 
govia, as it had done from Granada, when the 
saint went away, but was seen in Andalusia, 
whither he retired when he resigned his prior- 
ate. 

So continual was his prayer that he had to do 
violence to himself when people came to speak 
to him of their own affairs. One night when the 
religious were all in their cells he went down to 
the church and prayed before a picture of our 
Lord carrying his cross. The sight of this pic- 
ture always moved the saint to great devotion. 
During his prayer a voice spoke to him, as if 
coming from the picture, saying, 

**John, what shall I give- thee for all thou 
hast done and suffered for me?" 

The holy man was startled. As he was not 
only humble but also wary in the matter of 
revelations and visions, he looked round to see 
if anybody were in the church who could have 
uttered the words. Like St. Teresa, he wa/s 
always afraid of delusions. 

He saw no one; for, indeed, he was the only 
one there. But, not trusting his ears, he made 
no answer and continued to pray. The words 
were again uttered and the saint, still distrust- 



172 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERINGS 

ful, continued to pray. He heard tlie same 
words the third time. Then he made the won- 
drous answer, 

* ^ To suffer and to be held in contempt for thy 
sake. ' ' 

It was what he always longed for, the only 
wish of his heart on earth. 

His earnest and continuous prayer was to 
obtain three graces. First, to be relieved of 
every office in the order and to be subject, be- 
fore he died, to a superior who would not be 
gentle with him. Second, that he might suffer 
for the love of God. Third, to die in humiliation 
and unknown. 

The fervent prayer of the holy man was 
heard. 



OF SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS 173 



CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVENTH 

Discontent of the Nuns. Resolution of the 
Feiaks. St. John of the Cross Neglected 
BY His Beethren. Retires to Penuela. 
Miracles. 

Fra Nicolas introduced a new way of govern- 
ing the order. It consisted in bringing before 
an assemblage of seven fathers all questions 
and affairs, including the petty faults and im- 
perfections of the friars and nuns. This at 
once occasioned great disturbance, not only 
among the nuns, but also among the friars. The 
nuns believed themselves to have been seriously 
wronged and were not silent. They had noth- 
ing to say against the members of the council 
separately, whom they respected, but they could 
not bear that their shortcomings should be 
brought to the knowledge of seven men instead 
of one. 

In their distress they went out of the order 
for help, probably expecting to find none among 
the friars. Foremost among the discontented 
was the Venerable Anne of Jesus, prioress of 
Madrid. In her judgment the nuns should be 
under the government of one superior, not un- 
der that of many. She consulted three great 
friends of St. Teresa, Don Teutonio, archbishop 



174 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERINGS 

of Evora, the great Dominican doctor, Fra 
Dominic Banez, and Fra Luis de Leon, who at 
her request and with her help had published the 
works of St. Teresa, foundress of the reform. 

These grave and learned men were asked two 
questions. First, is it lawful for the nuns to 
make known in Rome the troubles they are in? 
And, second, is it expedient? They answered 
at once saying that it was lawful, for every 
subject may appeal to his superior always and 
under all circumstances, and expedient, because 
the troubles and trials of the nuns would be 
thereby ended. The Venerable Anne sent to 
Rome a dignified and skilful priest. Dr. Marmol, 
a relative of Fra Jerome of the Mother of God. 
He obtained from the pontiff a brief in favor 
of the nuns. 

Fra Nicolas was greatly offended by this 
action of the nuns and called his council to de- 
termine what was to be done. The chapter 
resolved that when the brief came they would 
cease to have anything to do with the nuns and 
would resign their direction. It was a harsh 
decision. If the nuns had acted amiss, the 
friars of St. Teresa might have been more pa- 
tient with their elder sisters. 

Seeing the great disturbance in the reformed 
family of Carmel, King Philip II obtained from 
his holiness Gregory XIV revocation of the 
brief in question, issued by Sixtus V, April, 



OF SAINT JOHN OP THE CROSS 175 

1591. At Pentecost Fra Nicolas held a chapter 
of the order in Madrid where peace was estab- 
lished between him and the nuns. 

St. John of the Cross had much to suffer at 
this time and he suffered in silence. The Ven- 
erable Anne of Jesus was a nun whom he highly- 
honored. He had great confidence in her and 
she in him. Owing to this friendship the vicar 
general and many of the friars suspected St. 
John of having fostered the spirit of rebellion 
among the nuns. Their suspicion was, of 
course, utterly unjust. Thus matters stood 
when the word of Fra Nicolas reached St. John 
of the Cross in Segovia, commanding his pres- 
ence at the chapter to be opened in June, 1591. 
Before quitting Segovia he went to take leave 
of the nuns, knowing he would see them no 
more. On their saying he would return from 
the chapter as provincial, he replied pleasantly, 
that God would not punish the province so 
heavily. Then he added that the chapter would 
make no account of him and would throw him 
into a corner out of the way. 

The first sign of opposition was manifest in 
the elections. Nobody in the chapter gave his 
vote for the first friar of the reform. When the 
elections were over and the affairs of the order 
came up for discussion, St. John of the Cross 
represented that the decrees and constitutions 
were too many and some of them at variance 



176 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERINGS 

with the others. He also spoke in favor of Fra 
Jerome and urged upon his brethren the neces- 
sity of dealing tenderly with the nuns. The 
order should remember, he said, that they were 
the cherished children of St. Teresa and great 
allowance should be made for them in the 
troubles which had arisen. 

This defence of the nuns confirmed the sus- 
picion rife among the friars that the saint was 
in league with them. Fra Nicolas, as a rebuke 
to the nuns, deprived him of office as provincial. 
Thus St. John of the Cross at once became a 
simple friar without rank or authority among 
his brethren. 

Finding himseK at last in the very state for 
which he had so earnestly longed, free from the 
cares and honors of office, St. John of the Cross 
gave thanks to God. The first use he made of 
his freedom was to ask the vicar to allow him 
to retire to Penuela, one of the most austere 
houses in the order. The vicar gave him leave 
to do so, but a few days afterwards the friars 
learned that the brief had been cancelled and 
that there would be no further opposition on 
the part of the nuns. This changed the whole 
matter. There was no reason now for continu- 
ing the disgrace of the saint. Fra Nicolas was 
very sorry that he had been carried away by his 
zeal and now, seeing that he had been hard and 
unkind in his treatment of St. John of the 



OF SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS 177 

Cross, who was one of the pillars of the order, 
tried to persuade him to return as prior of 
Segovia and forego his purpose of retiring to 
Penuela ; but he could not prevail. The servant 
of God had obtained what he had so earnestly 
prayed for and he was now going to take pos- 
session of his rest. Henceforth he was to live 
unknown and despised, thirsting for the chalice 
which our Lord had so lovingly promised him. 
He was free at last. 

He went to Segovia from Madrid but tarried 
there only a day or two. His friends gathered 
round him and begged him to remain. To all 
of them he replied with his wonted tenderness, 
that it was not possible. Dona Ana de Mercado 
y Penasola, his friend and penitent, entreated 
him at least to promise to return. He was 
equally deaf to the prayers of that saintly 
widow. At last he said to her, 

*'No, I shall never return. But one day you 
will bring me back. ^ ' 

The words were afterwards fulfilled, as we 
shall see later on. 

In July of this year 1591 he reached Penuela, 
to the great joy of the friars there who, with 
their prior, Fra Diego of the Incarnation, once 
his novice, contrived to become novices again 
under him. He spent his whole time in prayer. 
In the morning after mass he would ask leave of 
the prior to go up the mountain. There he re- 



178 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERING'S 

mained till he heard the bell for vespers. He 
would then return and, after vespers, he would 
go again and return for the evening prayer. 

One of his penitents found him on the moun- 
tain and said to him, 

**Is it possible you can always like to be amid 
these rocks r' 

The saint replied humbly, **You must not be 
surprised, for I have less to confess when I am 
amidst these rocks than when I am among 
men." 

The prior of Penuela testified afterwards that 
the servant of God lived in the house as obe- 
dient as a novice and his austerities were so 
great that his continuing to live was in itself a 
miracle. His sleep was so brief that his prayer 
was unbroken. Whenever any one went to his 
cell he was always found on his knees. 

One day a violent tempest arose. The sky 
was darkened and the thunder roared. The 
ground was furrowed by a raging storm of 
rain and hail. The whole community was 
alarmed ; but the saint was unmoved. He came 
down from his cell and, in the sight of the terri- 
fied fathers, took off his cowl and with it made 
the sign of the cross four times towards the 
four quarters of the heavens. At once the 
clouds departed and no sign of the storm 
remained. 



OF SAINT JOHN OP THE CROSS 179 

But Ms bodily strength was gone from him. 
The wasted frame confessed that the spirit 
within was stronger than itself. And now, 
worn out by his unceasing penances, he re- 
ceived an order from the council to go to the 
Indies! His brethren in Penuela, seeing how 
unreasonable, under the circumstances, such an 
order was, begged him to represent to the friars 
who had sent it, the ruined state of his health. 
He would not do it and said that to die under 
obedience would be his joy. 

He then added, '^ Would you have me not 
drink the chalice which my Father has sent 
me?" 

His brethren could do no more, and he at 
once wrote to Fra John of St. Anne to find the 
twelve friars who would go with him to the 
Indies. 

But while Fra John was searching for these 
companions, God himself laid his hands on his 
servant and sent him a burning fever to con- 
sume his body, to balance the other fever that 
was consuming his most pure soul. 

He could not conceal this illness. Fra An- 
tonio of Jesus, provincial of upper Andalusia, 
his companion in Duruelo where the order be- 
gan, having heard of it, wrote to him and begged 
him to remove to Baeza or to Ubeda where he 
could be attended in his siclaiess better than in 
Penuela. He also charged the prior of Penuela 



180 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERINGS 

to see that his o]^ders were obeyed. The prior 
and the friars begged him to choose Baeza. 
They knew he would be well cared for there, 
since he was the founder of the house. Besides, 
the prior of Baeza, Fra Angel of the Presenta- 
tion, had a great affection for the servant of 
God. On the other hand, the prior of Ubeda 
was known to be otherwise disposed and, in- 
deed, to be very unfriendly to the saint. It is 
not probable that Fra Antonio knew anything 
of this prior's dislike of St. John of the Cross. 
But St. John of the Cross knew it and that was 
decisive with him. He chose at once to put him- 
self in the hands of the prior of Ubeda and 
asked to be sent thither. 

Thither he went, but with great difficulty, 
because of his bodily weakness, beginning his 
journey 31 September, 1591. 



OF SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS 181 



CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHTH 

A Gkeat Cross. Illness. Joueney to Ubeda. 
Haeshness op the Peioe op Ubeda. 

While the saint was living in Pennela and our 
Lord was publishing his marvelous sanctity by 
great miracles, envy was at work defaming him 
as a sinner. When he was provincial of Anda- 
lusia, two friars, esteemed as the greatest 
preachers in Spain, were chosen by God as the 
weavers of his crown. The first was Fra Diego 
of the Evangelist. He had taken offense be- 
cause the holy father once reprimanded him for 
non-observance of the discipline of Carmel, and 
conceived against the saint a great dislike and 
even hatred. Having now become definitor gen- 
eral and having received from the definitors a 
commission to investigate the conduct of an- 
other religious in three or four convents of 
Andalusia, he tried to extend his commission 
to the investigation of the conduct of our saint. 
He went throughout Andalusia from convent to 
convent asking such disgraceful questions about 
the saint that the friars and nuns of those con- 
vents were greatly scandalized. At last he went 
so far as to threaten to expell the saint from the 
order of which he was main founder. 



182 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERINGS 

Most people were shocked by so much malice. 
The more timid, afraid of Fra Diego, suffered 
in silence. Others were indignant and blamed 
even their superiors, for they could not believe 
that Fra Diego was acting thus publicly without 
authority from them. 

When Fra Diego had collected his materials, 
he sent them into the council and to the vicar 
general. But when Fra Nicolas saw the papers 
and ascertained what they were, he indignantly 
threw them away and said the visitor had not 
been commissioned to interfere in this matter, 
nor was what he pretended to find out possible 
to Fra John of the Cross. 

Fra Nicolas did not punish Fra Diego. He 
reserved his fault for the consideration of the 
next general chapter. Into that chapter Fra 
Nicolas never came, for he died before it was 
assembled. His successor, Fra Elias of St. 
Martin, burned the papers before all the chap- 
ter and punished Fra Diego, bewailing and exe- 
crating the fact that there should be in the 
order a man who, worse than Cham, son of Noe, 
not only would discover, but even devise, dis- 
honor against his father. This punishment was 
considered sufficient by men, and some of his 
friends, seeing him humbled, tried to make him 
provincial of Andalusia, rather than bury, they 
said, a man of such great talents. And so he 
was elected provincial of Andalusia, though at 



OF SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS 183 

the great displeasure of many of the fathers. 
But the Lord did not allow Fra Diego to reach 
Andalusia. He was taken ill in Alcala la Eeal 
on his way to his province and there he died. 

The servant of God was in the midst of the 
furnace of this persecution when God sent him 
his last illness in Penuela. He had concealed 
his state for a fortnight from all in the house, 
but at last the swelling of his foot was discov- 
ered, and the friars were alarmed. They in- 
formed the provincial of the state he was in. 
Fra Antonio, who could not then go to Penuela, 
wrote a consoling letter to the saint, as it was 
said before, begging him to leave for Baeza 
or Ubeda. 

The servant of God, thirsting for the chalice 
of suffering, chose, as before stated, Ubeda, to 
the great distress of Fra Diego of the Incarna- 
tion, who remembered that the prior of that 
house was Fra Francis of St. Chrysostom, the 
learned and popular preacher, whom the saint 
had corrected in Seville at the same time and 
in the same way he had aroused the animosity 
of Fra Diego. 

A lay brother, Fra Francis of St. Hilarion, 
was also unwell and the prior of Penuela wished 
to send him with the saint to Ubeda. Brother 
Francis, knowing this, went to St. John of the 
Cross and begged him to change his resolution 
and go to Baeza. The saint would not throw 



184 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERINGS 

away the cross whicli was within his grasp; 
therefore he would not listen to the brother; 
but he would not take him into the furnace 
against his will; so he persuaded the prior to 
send the brother to Baeza, while he persevered 
in his intention to go to Ubeda. 

The journey from Penuela to Ubeda was to 
be his last and St. John of the Cross wished to 
make it on foot in company with a lay-brother. 
But he was too sick and he was placed on an 
ass. When they came near the bridge over the 
Guadalimar, the brother said he might dis- 
mount and rest under the shadow of the bridge 
and take something to eat. 

**I should be very glad,'' replied the saint, 
*'of a little rest, but as for eating, I can eat 
nothing. ' ' 

**Is there nothing then,'' asked the brother, 
**that your reverence could eat?" 

The saint said he could eat some asparagus, 
but where to find that at this season of the 
year? 

At the bridge he dismounted with the help of 
the brother and, having sat down in the shade, 
he continued his conversation, always marvel- 
ous, about God. 

While looking at the river they saw on a jut- 
ting stone close by them a bundle of asparagus, 
tied with twigs. 



OF SAINT JOHN OP THE CROSS 185 

The brother was amazed at the sight and 
seized the asparagus. The servant of God sug- 
gested, lest he should discern the miracle, that 
somebody might have left it there and made 
him look around to see if there was any one in 
sight. The brother obeyed but there was no- 
body to be seen. The saint then consented to 
his keeping it but on condition that he leave 
some money on the stone by way of compensa- 
tion to the owner if any should appear. The 
brother did as he was bid and took the aspara- 
gus to Ubeda where the friars looked at it with 
wonder. 

On his arrival the saint was very ill. The 
friars in the house were very glad to see him, 
but the prior was not moved to compassion at 
his pitiable sight. He had neither forgotten 
nor forgiven the saint and he was less disposed 
to serve him now because the order seemed to 
be weary of him and one of the definitors was 
seeking proofs of grave charges against him 
for the purpose of driving him out. Thus, 
under a cloud, the saint came to the house of 
an unfriendly prior, in great bodily suffering, 
and beyond the reach of all the friends who 
would have succored him had they been near at 
hand. 

The journey had made him much worse. 
Next day there were no less than five running 
sores on his foot. The surgeon, Martin de 



186 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERINGS 

Villarael, saw no way of relief except by cut- 
ting the flesh, which he did, leaving bare the 
bones. When the surgeon had done his work, 
the saint told him that he was ready to suffer 
more if more sufferings were in store for him. 
The pain of his disease seemed to have grown 
over greater, yet he never spoke but to give 
thanks to God. For every little help given by 
the infirmarian he was always grateful, beg- 
ging his forgiveness for the trouble he gave 
him. But when the pain was more severe than 
usual he would say, ^^This is my rest forever,'' 
as if praying to God never to let him be at ease 
again in this world, so great was his thirst for 
suffering. 

'The prior of the house, blinded by passion, 
refused even the ordinary assistance to the 
saint. He would go to see him from time to 
time, but not to comfort him ; nor did he conceal 
from him that he had not yet forgiven him 
the correction ministered in Seville. 

Some pious ladies, when they heard of his 
painful illness, undertook to wash the linen 
used in dressing his sores, for the monastery 
could not do it so well. This act of charity 
became known to the prior and was instantly 
forbidden. He would not allow such excessive 
indulgence, he said ; it was against the poverty 
of the order. The friars were greatly hurt at 
this unnecessary strictness and, on the urgent 



OF SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS 187 

representations of some of them, the prior con- 
sented to leave the matter alone. 

The prior had strictly forbidden the friars 
to visit the saint without his leave and that 
leave he refused absolutely to all whom he 
thought the saint would be glad to see. 

The prior of Penuela, who came to see the 
saint, was greatly distressed at the treatment 
he was undergoing. He knew it was an act 
of great forbearance on the part of the saint 
that the harsh prior had not been more severely 
punished in Seville for his careless life. And 
now the prior was returning evil for good to 
one of the chief pillars of the order. 

At last the prior, to harrass the saint still 
further, removed the infirmarian from his office 
and charged him to do nothing more for the 
sick. Fra Bernardo obeyed, as he was bound 
to do, but he found means to send a message 
to the provincial, Fra Antonio, the old com- 
panion of the saint, and to let him know how the 
first friar who put on the habit of reform was 
treated in the monastery of Ubeda. 



188 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERINGS 



CHAPTER TWENTY-NINTH 

Fea Antonio Visits the Saint. The Prior 
Eelents. Dona Claea de Benavides. 
Ines and Catherine de Salazae. 

When Era Antonio of Jesus received the 
message of Era Bernardo, he came in all haste 
to Ubeda, greatly displeased with the prior 
and full of sorrow on account of the servant of 
God. He reprimanded the prior with great 
severity even before he went to the infirmary 
to console the saint. There he saw a sight 
which moved him profoundly. He wished 
others to see it as well as himself. The door of 
the infirmary was opened and all the friars 
were bidden to enter that they might see their 
brother. He then told the prior that they ought 
to open even the gates of the monastery for all 
the world to come and see a saint. Era An- 
tonio knew the treasure which the house pos- 
sessed, though the prior could not. He charged 
the infirmarian to see that all the wants of the 
saint were supplied and to supply them even 
if the prior should fall back again into his for- 
mer hardness of heart. He, Era Antonio, 
would find means to defray all the charges, 
whatever they might be. Era Antonio remained 
a few days in the monastery and went away. 

But his visit changed the prior's feelings 



OF SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS 189 

toward the saint, and this was felt throughout 
the monastery. The prior, after the repri- 
mand of the provincial, entered into himself 
and resolved to be more charitable to the saint 
and to all. He went to the infirmary and, with 
tears in his eyes, begged the saint's forgive- 
ness and his counsel in the direction of the 
house. 

Seeing how the prior himself treated the 
saint with kindness, the infirmarian asked the 
saint to allow him to bring some music into the 
next room, that he might hear it and thereby 
forget for a while the great pain he was suifer- 
ing. The servant of God would not consent 
to any such devices. He would suffer thank- 
fully as God willed it, he said, and seek no 
means of relief until it pleased God himself to 
send them. The infirmarian insisted the second 
and the third time and then the saint, just to 
please him, consented. The musicians were 
brought in. When they had played for some 
time the infirmarian went to the saint and 
asked him how he liked the music. The servant 
of God said that he had not heard it. He had 
been in a trance the whole time, occupied with 
God in prayer, his ears sealed to all earthly 
sounds. He begged that the musicians might 
not be further troubled; he was grateful to 
them for their kindness and to the father who 
had brought them to the house, but he would 



190 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERINGS 

not mix, lie said, the consolations of earth with 
the consolations of heaven, and then added, 
with the Psalmist, ^'I shall be satisfied when 
thy glory shall appear. '* 

He was no longer cut off from his brethren. 
They had been allowed to visit him ever since 
the visit of the provincial. The friars were 
filled with wonder at his serenity. His whole 
body was now covered with sores. One day the 
saint spoke of the sufferings of Job, who ^^with 
a shell scraped the corruption, sitting on a 
dunghill.'' When he had said thesQ words, he 
turned to the fathers who were present and 
said, **Ah, that was suffering indeed! But I 
am lying on a good bed, not on a dunghill, and, 
instead of a shell, they give me clean linen to 
cleanse my sores. My sufferings are nothing. 
Our Lord has laid his hand lightly upon me, 
yea, rather one of his fingers. He has but 
gently and leniently touched me. ' ' 

To him his sufferings were a joy. He not 
only accepted them as great graces from our 
Lord, but as answers to lifelong prayers. 

One of the principal ladies in the pla^e. Dona 
Clara de Bentavides, heard of the illness of the 
saint and his wonderful patience in his trials. 
She had never seen him, nor even heard of him 
before medical men told her of his sufferings. 
Dona Clara wished to be of service to him and 
asked her husband's permission to send him 



OP SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS 191 

some provisions out of their house. Her hus- 
band, Don Bartholomew, instantly consented, 
and Dona Clara sent food to the monastery. In 
a day or two the saint found out that the food 
could not have been dressed in the house. So 
when it was brought to him he would not take it. 
If he died, he said to the prior, for want of food, 
his death would be less evil to the order than 
the laxity that might creep in if the food was 
dressed outside the monastery. Dona Clara, 
on being informed of the resolution, submitted. 
But she sent to the monastery everything that 
could be wanted, including lint and bandages 
for the service of the dying saint. 

Dona Clara was near confinement. When 
she heard how grateful the saint was for her 
charitable services, she sent to beg him to pray 
for her in her coming illness. She dreaded 
it very much and her heart grew sad as the 
time was nearing. 'The servant of God prayed 
and then sent her word saying to cast away all 
her fears and her pains would be few and her 
child would be admitted to the vision of God. 
His words were fulfilled after his death. Dona 
Clara *s illness was light and within a year the 
little girl she had brought into the world left 
it for her everlasting home. 

Two pious ladies in the neighborhood, having 
heard of the saint ^s distressing illness, offered 
themselves to take the soiled linen and bandages 



192 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERINGS 

to their own house and wash them. Their offer 
was accepted and accordingly all the linen 
necessary for the saint was taken to the house 
of Ines and Catherine Salazar. They were 
delicate women and not accustomed to what 
they saw when the linen was brought to them. 
The cloths were saturated with corruption. 
But the ladies, contrary to their expectations, 
perceived a perfume of most wondrous frag- 
rance instead of the odor natural to corruption. 
They were filled with a strange joy for which 
they could not account, and their labor, which 
had promised to be irksome, became to them a 
most agreeable occupation of their leisure. 

One day Ines de Salazar not only missed the 
accustomed fragrance but perceived a most un- 
pleasing and offensive smell which made her ill. 
She was unable to do her work and went to her 
mother and told her either St. John of the Cross 
must be dying or the friars had sent cloths 
used by some other person. Soon after a lay- 
brother came to the house and he, being asked 
whether the bandages used by any other father 
had been sent with those of the saint, confessed 
that the friars had sent some which were for the 
service of Fra Mathew of the Blessed Sacra- 
ment, who had a sore on one of his shoulders. 
These the sisters separated without difficulty 
from those of the saint, which still sent forth 
the fragrance of flowers. 



OF SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS 193 



CHAPTER THIRTIETH 

The Appkoach of Death. Humh^ity of the 
Saint. Fka Anto2tio Comes to Him. The 
Last Sacraments. Death. 

The saint was nearly worn out. God had 
heard his prayer and had plunged him into the 
furnace of tribulation. There he laid from the 
end of September till Saturday, the eve of 
the Immaculate Conception, 1591. The surgeon 
in attendance told him that he had but few 
days of life left to him. The saint answered 
with joyful face, in the words of the Psalmist, 
Laetatus sum in his quae dicta sunt mihi, in 
domum Domini ibimus. ^'I have been made 
glad by what they said to me, we shall go into 
the house of the Lord." 

He then, after a momentary pause, added, 
*^ Since I have heard these good tidings I feel 
no pain whatever." 

The surgeon thought the end so near that he 
advised the friars to give him the last sacra- 
ments without delay; but the saint, when they 
repeated this to him, asked them to wait a few 
days. He would warn them in time, he said. 

A messenger was sent at once to the pro- 
vincial, Fra Antonio, who, with the saint, had 
begun the reform in Duruelo. The old man 
came without delay. 



194 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERINGS 

In the beginning of the following week the 
dying saint asked the friars what day it was. 
A little later he asked how long it was to Sat- 
urday. He saw that they had guessed his 
meaning and, to turn their attention away, he 
added that he was thinking how on that day 
our Lady helped her religious in a special way. 
But his explanation had no effect in the minds 
of his brethren for they believed that our Lady 
had made known to him that he would die on 
Saturday within the octave of her great feast. 

On Thursday morning he asked Fra Bartholo- 
mew of St. Basil, who was continually with 
him during the latter part of his illness, to take 
a small bag that was under his pillow and burn 
the papers wliich were in it. There were letters 
he had received from his friends. He would 
not leave them behind for fear of annoyance 
to them. "When the papers had been all de- 
stroyed, he asked for the viaticum. Li the 
evening, at the same hour in which our Lord 
instituted the holy mass, the friars brought 
the master to his servant who, before receiving 
him, begged his brethren to forgive the bad 
example he had given to them and then, not 
seeing the prior among them, sent him a mes- 
sage, requesting him, for the love of God, to 
come to him. The prior came and the saint 
whom he had wronged asked his forgiveness 
and begged him to overlook his faults. He 



OF SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS 195 

was sorry, he said, for the trouble he had given 
and for the expense to the house, but he would 
do all he could to make compensation, praying 
our Lord to repay them after his death. 

His prayer was the prayer of the just and the 
house prospered. Soon it became one of the 
best in the province. The saint had before 
this told the sub-prior the house would prosper 
and it was then believed in the monastery that 
the servant of God had received from our Lord 
an assurance that his prayer would be heard. 

The prior's heart was melted and his tears 
flowed at the remembrance of his harsh treat- 
ment of the servant of God and of the patient 
endurance with which the treatment was en- 
dured. The saint begged one further grace 
of him, namely, a habit to be buried in. That 
was all he asked. He possessed nothing him- 
self. When the friars asked him to distribute 
among them those things which might be said 
to belong to him, such as his breviary, his rosary 
and his habit, because they wished to have them 
as relics, he answered them simply, 

*^I am poor and have nothing of my own. 
Everything about me belongs to the superior. 
Ask him. ' ' 

Thus he remembered his vow to the moment 
of his death. 

On the feast of St. Lucy, Friday, 13 Decem- 
ber, he asked those who were with him what 



196 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERINGS 

day of the week it was. They told him Friday. 
He did not ask again the name of the day but 
only from time to time what hour it was. At 
one in the afternoon, when they told him what 
hour it was, he said, ^'I asked because, glory, 
be to God, I have to chant matins in heaven 
tonight. '^ 

He became now deeply recollected and was 
from time to time in a trance. His eyes were 
generally closed, that he might be more intent 
upon heavenly things. But sometimes he open- 
ed them, only to look most lovingly on the cruci- 
fix before him. 

That Friday was spent on the cross with our 
Lord, for the servant of God entered into the 
night of spiritual desolation and his soul was 
filled with darkness, in addition to great cor- 
poral pains. He lay on his poor bed, the poor- 
est of men, utterly detached from all things, 
cleaving only to God who visited him with his 
love and, wounding him anew, left him alone in 
the most terrible abandonment, beyond the 
reach of all possible consolation. 

On that day the provincial, Fra Antonio of 
Jesus, arrived and went at once to visit him. 
St. John of the Cross was very glad to see him, 
but he could not speak because of the pain he 
was suffering both in soul and body. At last, 
lest the provincial should be distressed, he 
turned to him and begged him to forgive his 



OF SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS 197 

silence, which was caused by his severe suffer- 
ings. 

Fra Antonio tried to console him and spoke 
of his labors in the order and of the great 
reward he was about to receive. Thereupon 
the saint stopped his ears with his feeble hands 
and cried, 

^ ^ Oh my father, do not speak of that ! Speak 
rather of my many and grievous sins ! I think 
only of them and of the merits of my 
Redeemer. ^ ' 

A little later Fra AugTistine of St. Joseph 
came to console him and said he would soon 
be rewarded for what he had done. The saint 
cried out as before in great distress, 

^^0 my father, do not speak of that! There 
is nothing I ever did that is not a source of 
shame to me at this moment.'' 

About five o'clock in the evening he asked 
for the last anointing. During the admin- 
istration of the sacrament he made all the 
responses himself. Some time afterwards he 
asked them what hour it was. He was told that 
it was nine o'clock. 

He said, ^^Ah, I have three hours to wait." 

And then, in a voice of most touching hu- 
mility, he repeated the words of the Psalmist, 
Incolatus mens prolongatus est. ^'My stay is 
prolonged. ' ' 



198 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERINGS 

He remained silent till a bell rang at ten 
o'clock; he asked what it was. They told him 
it was the bell of a monastery of the nuns ring- 
ing for matins. 

He said, **I too, by the goodness of God, shall 
sing them with our Lady in heaven. ' ' 

Then addressing himself to her, he said, **I 
thank thee, my Lady and my Queen, because 
it pleases thee to let me quit this world on 
Saturday, thine own day.'' 

At eleven o'clock he sat up on his bed and 
said, *^ Blessed be God, how well I ami" 

He seemed to be in perfect health of body and 
asked them to sing the praises of God with him. 
He was very joyous. Those who were present, 
among them seculars, formed themselves into 
a choir. The saint began the Miserere and they 
answered. After this they recited other Psalms 
in the same way, the saint from time to time 
kissing the crucifix which he held in his hands. 

At half past eleven he said it was time to 
call the community. The bell rung and the 
friars came with the provincial, his old friend 
and companion. The old man of fourscore 
years and more fell on his knees and, for him- 
self and for the whole community, begged him 
to bless them before he went and to remember 
them when he should see the face of God. The 
saint said he would never forget them, but as 
for blessing them, he could not do it. That 



OF SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS 199 

belonged to the father of them all, the provin- 
cial there present. Bnt the friars asked him 
again and the provincial commanded the dying 
saint to satisfy his own and their desire. 

Then, obedient to the end, St. John of the 
Cross lifted up his hand and made the sign of 
the cross while the whole assembly wept tears 
of sorrow and joy. 

Fra Alonzo of the Mother of God began to 
make the recommendation of the passing soul. 
When he stopped for a while the saint said, 

*^Go on, pray for me to God!'' 

Then he pressed to his lips the crucifix in 
his hands, and closed his eyes in prayer. It 
was now close upon midnight. Among the 
friars round him he saw Fra Francis, whose 
duty it was to ring the bell for matins. He said 
to him, 

* ^ Go and ring for matins. ' ' 

A great radiant orb was seen by those 
present encircling the dying saint, the light of 
which was so brilliant as to dim the other 
lights in the room. In a minute or two after- 
wards, awaking up as if from a deep sleep, the 
saint asked what the bell was ringing for. 

They said for matins. 

He looked at them and smiled, as if taking 
leave of them, and said, **I am going to sing 
them in Paradise.'' 

He kissed the crucifix, closed his eyes and 
said, 



200 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERINGS 

^^In manus tuas, Domine, commendo spiritum 
meum. ' ' 

He passed away as a child falling asleep in 
his mother's arms. There was no agony nor 
struggle. God took him gently to himself, 
Saturday morning, 14 December, 1591, in the 
fiftieth year of his age. 

He had been twenty-eight years in religion, 
five of which he spent in the old observance, 
and twentv-three in the reform of St. Teresa. 



OF SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS 201 



CHAPTER THIRTY-FIRST 

The Fuxeral. Sermon. Incorruptiox of the 
Body. Translation to Madrid and Se- 
govia. 

The religious and seculars present in the 
infirmary, seeing that the saint was dead, fell 
upon him with one consent, and having kissed 
his hands and feet, began to rob him of the 
habit he wore and the linen rags that covered 
his sores. They took away from his head, 
which was almost bald, the little hair spared 
by the tonsure. Even the rope that hung from 
the ceiling, by which he used to move himself 
in his bed, was taken down and seized upon as 
relics and memorials of a saint. The prior 
saved his leather girdle from the common spoil 
and afterwards gave it to Dona Clara. To her 
husband, Don Bartholomew de Ortega, he gave 
the breviary which the saint had used during 
his lifetime . 

While the friars were thus occupied, the 
death of the saint became known in divers 
places. Dona Clara, asleep in her bed, awoke 
suddenlj^ and, rousing her husband, said to him 
that Era Juan de la Cruz was dead. She 
confessed she did not see him but she was sure 
he had been that minute in the room. 



202 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERINGS 

■The tolling of the bell roused the whole town. 
The instant the people heard it, they knew that 
it announced to them the departure of the 
saint. They hurried to the monastery and 
clamoured to be let in. As the night was cold 
and rainy, the friars had pity on the men and 
had great difficulty in hindering the women also 
from entering within the enclosure. Those who 
went in begged to see the body of the saint 
and then followed the example of the friars 
and began to rob him of the little the friars 
had left him, that they might possess some- 
thing that had once touched that temple of the 
Holy Ghost. 

Early in the morning the corpse of the saint 
was brought down into the church for burial. 
The people fell on their knees, kissed his feet 
and touched his body with their rosaries. 
Father Sotomayor the Dominican came in and 
fell on his knees. He was one of those who 
saw the face of the saint shining in Baeza. 
The vision had been the beginning of his con- 
version. When he had knelt down he fell as 
one dead over the body. The friars removed 
him as quickly as they could and when he had 
recovered himself asked him why he had 
fainted away. He told them that he had made 
up his mind to cut off one of his fingers and 
that on his laying hold of it, the saint had 
drawn it back out of his hands as if he had 
been still living. 



OF SAINT JOHN OP THE CROSS 203 

The whole neighborhood was aroused and 
the church was filled from end to end. Clergy, 
both secular and regular, noblemen and per- 
sons of less honor in the world, came together 
uninvited to see and venerate the body of the 
poorest man in all Spain. Mass was sung and 
Dr. Bezerra preached a sermon. At the close 
he said, 

**I do not ask you, as the custom is, to pray 
to God for the soul of the departed, for he 
who is gone from us is a saint, and his soul is 
in Paradise; but what I ask is this, I ask yon 
to follow in his footsteps and I ask him to 
obtain for us divine grace to do so." 

When the body was to be borne to the grave 
there arose an eager contest among the re- 
ligious for the honor of carrying it to its rest- 
ing place within the church. 

Afterward, the people crowded daily into 
the church to pray to the saint, but they would 
not tread on that part of the pavement under 
which his holy body was lying. 

On the Monday night following the burial, 
when the lights had been put out and the friars 
were about to take the discipline, they were 
surprised by a great light which filled the 
whole church, and were seized with a holy fear, 
for they saw that it had come from the tomb 
of the saint, whose sepulcher was thus made 
glorious by the Lord. In a few minutes the 



204 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERINGS 

light disappeared and the friars took the disci- 
pline as usual, in the dark. 

At the end of nine months the grave was 
opened and the body of the saint was found 
incorrupt. 

Dona Ana de Penasola and her brother, Don 
Luis de Mercado, obtained an order from the 
vicar, Fra Nicolas de Jesus Maria, for its 
removal from Ubeda to Segovia. Dona Ana had 
a great devotion to the servant of God and 
wished to have the body of the saint placed in 
the house she had founded under his direction. 
She and her brother waited nine months more 
before they attempted to remove it, and then 
sent to Ubeda one of the king's sergeants to 
bring the remains. 

Francis de Medina Zavallos, having received 
his instructions, went to Ubeda and, having 
seen the prior, produced the order of the vicar, 
who enjoined obedience and absolute silence. 
It was then arranged that the prior should 
admit Zavallos into the church at eleven o'clock 
at night, unknown to the community, and that 
two lay brothers should open the grave and 
raise the body. So it was done. When they 
had removed the stone they perceived a most 
fragrant perfume and when they reached the 
body they found it perfectly fresh and supple. 
There was no trace of corruption in it. It was 
impossible to take it away. Indeed, the order 



OF SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS 205 

was for the removal of the bones. But before 
it was put back, the prior, at the request of 
Zavallos, cut off one of the fingers, that he 
might give it to Dona Ana as a proof of the 
story he had to tell. The hand was full of 
blood, the blood flowing as freely as from the 
hand of a living person. 

They waited nine months more and Zavallos 
was sent again to TJbeda. The grave was 
opened and the body was found nearly as they 
left it. The lime had indeed dried it but had 
not consumed the flesh. Zavallos took the body 
in a cloak-bag and went away. Near Martos 
he and his fellows were suddenly confronted 
by a man who cried out, 

** Where are you going with the body of the 
saint? Let it remain where it was.'^ 

They passed on; not, however, without 
anxiety, because wherever they halted people 
asked them what it was they had with them, 
the perfume of the body was so wonderful. 
Having reached Madrid Zavallos gave it into 
the safe keeping of the Carmelite nuns. There 
Dona Ana had one of the arms cut oif for a 
relic; but afterwards, having scruples about 
keeping it, sent it to Segovia. 

In the monastery of the nuns in Madrid the 
body was treated with more respect than had 
been shown it in Ubeda. It was put in a coffin 
covered with flowers and branches of laurel, 



206 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERINGS 

that it might be sent to Segovia more rever- 
ently. The bearers were ordered to keep the 
secret and avoid all publicity in order to pre- 
vent a gathering of people when the relics 
should reach Segovia. This was impossible. 
Before they arrived near the city the secret 
was revealed. The people were attracted by 
the wondrous fragrance; and though the 
bearers of the body went to the monastery 
without going through the city, they were fol- 
lowed by a great multitude of men and women. 

The friars of Segovia received the body with 
all honor and reverence and when they had 
cleansed it they vested it in the habit of the 
order and placed it in a fitting coffin. They 
exposed it in the main chapel and enclosed it 
in a grating so that the people might see it 
without reaching to it. They passed through 
the grating rosaries, crosses, medals, handker- 
chiefs and any other things they had at hand, 
to be touched to the sacred body that they 
might be kept as relics. In this way immense 
crowds of people came during eight days to 
see and venerate the holy body. One day, such 
was the gathering of people pressing against 
the grating that they broke it, and the religious 
had the greatest trouble preserving the sacred 
body from being carried away. To satisfy the 
multitudes the father prior distributed among 
them an old habit which the saint had used 



OF SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS 2«T 

when lie lived in Segovia. Even the flowers 
and laurel twigs which the Carmelite sisters 
of Madrid had put on the coffin were carried 
away as precious relics. Some leaves of those 
laurel branches are still preserved today, as 
green and fresh as if they had just been cut 
from the tree. 



208 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERINGS 



CHAPTER THIRTY-SECOND 

The City of Ubeda Reclaims the Body of 
St. John of the Ckoss. Segovia ai^d Ubeda 
Aee Reconciled Ovek the Dispute and 
Build Chapels To the Saint. Mibacles 
AND Wonderful Appaeitions In Connec- 
tion With the Relics. 

As soon as tlie pious theft became known 
in Ubeda the city was so mncli offended that 
the authorities of the place appointed attorneys 
and sent them to Rome to obtain from the Pope 
a decree of restitution of the body to Ubeda. 
Clement VIII, the bishops of Ubeda and Sego- 
via and the superiors of the order, to avoid 
rivalry between these two noble cities, made 
them compromise, so that Ubeda was to be 
satisfied with the legs and one of the arms of 
the saint and Segovia retained the head and 
trunk. Thus the body was divided and in both 
places chapels were built for the preservation 
of the sacred relics. 

As said before. Dona Ana had one of the 
arms cut off for a relic. Meanwhile Francis 
de Yepes heard that the body of his brother 
had been brought to Segovia and went thither 
in the hope of seeing it. But the frairs would 
not satisfy his desires because of the orders of 
the vicar and his council. He then went to 



OF SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS 209 

Madrid and saw Dona Ana. She had now con- 
ceived some scruples about retaining the arm 
in her possession. Accordingly she gave a 
piece of the flesh to Francis and asked him to 
carry the arm to Segovia that it might be laid 
in the same place with the body. Francis, hav- 
ing placed the flesh in a glass, took the arm to 
Segovia. The prior of Segovia did not receive 
him very kindly and refused him the sight of 
his brother's body. So Francis took the arm to 
Medina and gave it to the Carmelite nuns who 
had been so generous to his own and the saint's 
mother. 

One of the people's main reasons for honor- 
ing the saints is the miracles wrought by God 
through them. Our saint performed many and 
great miracles both during his life and after 
his death. 

In the monastery of Malaga, Sister Mencia 
of St. Luis was suffering from a severe attack 
of palsy which had kept her in bed for ten 
years. In 1608 the father provincial, Fra 
Bernard of the Conception, went into the mon- 
astery for canonical visitation. Pitying the 
poor nun he said to her, 

^^ Sister, revive your faith. God is going to 
cure you by the merits of St. John of the 
Cross." 

Taking a finger of the saint which he carried 
with him, he placed it on her head. At the 



210 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERINGS 

same moment the nun felt such a wonderful 
sensation in all her body and found herself so 
perfectly cured that she rose from her bed and 
was able to follow the community exercises as 
if she never had been sick, greatly to the ad- 
miration of the provincial and her community. 

In the year 1617 Dona Juana Godinez de 
Sandoval, sixteen years of age, was attacked 
suddenly by such a terrible fever and frenzy 
that she lost her senses and her mind, and was 
five days in that condition. The doctors tried 
all possible means to bring her back to her 
senses, but without result, and left her as a 
hopeless case. Two religious of Carmel came 
with the foot of St. John of the Cross and ap- 
plied it to her chest. Instantly she sat up in 
her bed and embraced the holy relic and re- 
mained silent for some time. Then she said 
that when the relic was laid on her she heard 
somebody saying to her, 

**By the merits of the holy father you are 
cured. ' ' 

She cried out, **I am cured! My holy Father 
John of the Cross has cured me!*' 

She bade them give her her clothes and, as 
the maids delayed giving them to her, for they 
were surprised by the miracle, she put on a 
long cloak and, rising from her bed, walked in 
the room. 



OF SAINT JOHN OP THE CROSS 211 

Eealizing under what great obligations her 
parents felt the miracle had placed them, she 
obtained permission to become a Discalced Car- 
melite. To show her gratitude to God and to 
the saint, she changed her name on entering the 
order and called herself Joan of the Cross. 

Not less wonderful was the miracle the Lord 
wrought on a son of Don Francisco de Navaez, 
called Eodrigo, twenty months of age, who, 
having fallen from a very high corridor, broke 
his neck and was bleeding from his mouth, 
nostrils and ears, while some of his brains were 
spattered on the floor. The child was in agony 
and beyond any hope when they applied the 
relic of the saint to his head. At its touch the 
blood ceased flowing. The head of the child 
and his bones grew together instantly and be- 
fore two days he was as strong as ever. 

Among the miracles of the saint, his appari- 
tions to innumerable persons and the very 
great variety of visions of saints and religious 
objects that were seen by means of his relics 
have given much glory to God and honor to his 
saint. The venerable Francis de Yepes, his 
holy brother, carried about with him the glass 
in which he had placed a piece of his brother's 
flesh. Longing to see his brother, he gazed 
at the flesh and to his amazement saw, as if 
painted on it, the very likeness of the saint, not 
once, but ever afterwards. Our Lady also ap- 



212 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERING'S 

peared in the same way, with the infant in her 
arms. This was seen not only by Francis de 
Yepes, but by many others. Some, however, 
who gazed at the relic, saw nothing. Some saw 
our Lord on the cross, others a dove ; some saw 
the saint himself on his knees before the cruci- 
fix. There were others who saw angels. Some 
saw St. Peter, others Elias the Prophet. Some 
saw St. Teresa, others St. Francis. Others 
again saw St. Francis Xavier. But amid these 
great diversities no one saw anything that was 
not holy or divine. Some again saw at one hour 
and not at another. Some saw always the same 
vision and to others the vision was changed. All 
were always impressed and numerous miracles 
were wrought. Once a Mahometan woman, then 
a slave in Spain, who had obstinately refused to 
become a Christian, was shown the relic. 

She looked at it out of pure curiosity and 
then cried out, ''Oh, beautiful lady, beautiful 
boy!" 

She was touched by divine grace, was con- 
verted and baptized. 

The Eeverend Father John Baptist, 0. C. D., 
was preaching during lent to some women of 
loose character and, after having preached the 
whole lent, could not move them to change their 
wicked life. He then asked them to see and 
venerate the relics of a saint. 

Three of them consented and came forward. 
The father gave the relic to the first and as she 



OF SAINT JOHN OF THE GROSS 2 IS 

was looking at it she became as white as paper. 
The priest asked her what was the matter. She 
answered that she saw a woman weeping bit- 
terly and near her a crucifix and a skull. 
Doubtless it was Mary Magdalene weeping for 
her sins. She also wanted to weep for her own 
sins. The second came and the same thing hap- 
pened. The third was rather unwilling but, 
after some hesitation, came and saw nothing. 
She remained in her obstinacy and wicked life. 
The conversion of the two women was so sin- 
cere that, the following day, in the main church 
of the city, they confessed their wicked life 
before numerous people and begged pardon 
from God and from all the citizens of Cala- 
tayud. 

In the city of Burgos a religious, looking at a 
relic of the saint, saw the figure of Christ our 
Eedeemer. With the curiosity and boldness of 
the lukewarm, she took a pin and pricked the 
part where the figure of Christ was seen. Blood 
gushed out, causing her such great fear and 
confusion that she changed her lukewarm life 
and became a most holy religious. 

We could relate many miracles wrought by 
the relics of St. John of the Cross but we leave 
them out for brevity's sake, finishing with one 
which shows how God wishes relics of the saints 
to be treated reverently. 

In the convent of the Discalced Carmelite 
nuns of Granada one dav after sunset the Rev- 



214 PRAYERS, WORKS AND SUFFERINGS 

erend Mother Mary of St. Paul observed that 
a brilliant light came forth from an image of 
St. Teresa and that the rays fell on a little 
paper on the floor. Taking up the piece of 
paper, she found a relic of the saint in it, which 
had been lost by a nun, as learned afterwards. 
This miracle was recognized as supernatural 
in the canonization of St. Teresa. It shows 
the providence of God over his saints, not per- 
mitting that the least particle of their bodies 
be lost or remain without due reverence. 

St. John of the Cross was beatified in 1674 by 
Clement X and canonized by Benedict XIII, 27 
December, 1726. 

Laus Deo Virginique Matri. 



